Dead Minds
by Winkey02
Summary: When the team is away on a case, something is happening overseas. Soon the situation gets really bad, but can they figure out what is going on in time? And will they have enough time to prepare for what is coming? / This will be a Apocalypse Story. And with, sooner rather then later, some Garvez. I can't help it. For more information read my Note. /
1. Chapter 1

**So this Story is something completely different than the other ones I am writing. But what can I say. I love Criminal Minds (since ever, but only had the feeling to write some ff because of Garvez) and I love Zombies. I watch everything about them and also read at least a hundred books about the Undead.**

 **So what if...**

 **And this story is the result.**

 **I know it will probably have not many followers or response, since it has not much to do with the show, except for the characters (and even they will be out of character, but I try to catch their spirits as much as I can). But maybe there are some other crazy fans out there, who also love both of them like me.**

 **It will not be a Crossover with "The Walking Dead". It is my own story, my own ideas – except for the characters, they belong to Criminal Minds.**

 **Sooner or later, this story will have some blood, horror, romance and a lot of other things in it. (But nothing out of the ordinary when you have to deal with Z's) That is why I rated it that way.  
**

 **I already have a few chapters in store, I just couldn't stop myself from writing. So there will be updates soon – with or without followers. ;-)**

 **Please forgive me, if not everything is making 100% sense, I do try my best.**

 **Enjoy! (And sorry for this long Note :-) )**

* * *

 _If you're going to have a story, have a big story, or none at all._ ~Joseph Campbell

* * *

Today was their first day back at the B.A.U. Office in two weeks. They had a very tough case down in Atlanta. The team hadn't had much time to watch the news during this time, except for Penelope. She also had much work, but found the time to watch occasionally.

They knew something was going on over seas, spreading from Asia to Europe and Africa. Now they stood all together in front of the television in the conference room.

The news send some live broadcast from Berlin, Germany. There were riots, violence and reports off a disease with flu like symptoms, only that the virus seemed to effect a part of the brain too, the part responisble for emotions. The infected showed serious signs of aggressions towards other people.

The broadcast switched from Berlin to Vienna, same scenes like before. A few moments later the broadcast switched again, this time to Moscow and after that to Tokyo. The reporters said that all the hospitals in the towns were at highest capacity and that some of the country's had such outbreaks in every larger city. A few of them had already involved the military, they were building emergency camps for the sick people to get treated. The news also said that some countries were asking for help, asking for medic personal and support.

Penelope was not as shocked as the others, since she followed the news the last few days. The team discussed, if this could be a world wide pandemic, one mentioned that there was panic like that before, like with the bird flu or the Ebola virus.

* * *

"It seems to be very contagious. Or it would not spread so fast. I don't think it is airborne though. None of the pictures showed military or hospital personal with different mask as the respiratory masks. With the information we just saw, it means this must be a virus, probably transmissible through fluids. I wonder how long it will take to reach America." Reid would be the one, who could make most sense of all what they just saw. He was after all their genius.

The discussion went on for another 10 minutes. Some of them worried, some of them thinking the media was just overreacting.

"Okay guys, go back to work now. We have reports to finish and soon there will be another case. If there would be any danger here, we would be the first to know. After all we are agents for the government." Prentiss put an end and shooed they all back to work.

The next day started as the last ended. Some of the team finished some paperwork, others followed up on cases they didn't solve. Shortly before it was time for lunch, Emily called the team into the conference room

"I just finished talking with our superiors. We have new orders. I know that it will sound strange, but it is what it is. We are on a stand down. Not going on cases for at least a week. Don't ask me why. They didn't told me. They just said it comes from way up and they had no say in it. So take it slow the next days. We all have loads of overtime, just have your phones by your side all the time. I know, I know. You all do it anyways but that's what they said. Finish your reports and have some time off. Enjoy your time with friends and family." Emily gave them all a smile and a nod. "Penelope, please come to my office for a minute."

They were heading back to their office spaces to finish the work. All of them were confused, but none of them had something against some free time. They wondered about the orders and talked about it, but didn't had much to go on.

* * *

Penelope followed Emily to her office. Emily looked worried, as she closed the door behind Penelope.

"Did I do something my gorgeous unit chief?" Penelope asked with a worried smile.

"No, not at all. I must ask _you_ for something. You know I have still many contacts at Interpol. When I spoke with some of them, the ones I could reach anyways, they all sounded more then alarmed but didn't say something specific or maybe they couldn't. And now these orders, the reports from the news. Something bigger is going on. I need you to find out as much as you can. I know you have still contacts with hackers all over the world. Use them, please. Find out more about whats going on. But do it discrete. There must be reasons why none of my friends at Interpol are talking. Report to me what you find out, but only personally. Understood?" Emily sounded very serious and her request was very strange too.

"Of course sugar. I'm on it since yesterday. You sound very worried." Penelope had already contacted two of her friends, one in Berlin, the other in Peking. But there was no answer yet.

"I am worried Penelope. Something is going on, I just don't know what." Emily sighed, she couldn't imagine what it could be that no one from Interpol was talking about. And she hadn't had contact with her boyfriend since more then 24 hours.

"I do as you wish. I will use my personal computer back home. But it could be that I will need to go search the dark net to find something. It is suspiciously quiet on the web, except for what the news stations are reporting." Penelope was worried yesterday, now she was close to freaking out.

"Do what's necessary. You do it under my orders, I am fully responsible if someone find out what you are doing." Emily was acting real paranoid. _That's so not Emily._

"Honey, no one will find anything on what I am about to do. Even if it has been years since my hacking carrier, I am still very capable of hiding if I want do. Trust me."

"Of course Penelope. I know. Just keep it between us two, until you have something concrete. I don't want to worry the others on a hunch." Emily knew Penelope had a hard time to keep a secret. She was just no one who liked to keep things from others, especially from her friends. But she also knew she could trust her if it was important.

* * *

Penelope walked back to her own office, finished some work and then shut down her system. When she was back home, she started her personal system and checked it for its safety and anonymity. She searched the web for at least two hours and didn't find anything else, except for what she already knew.

She contacted two other former friends of hers, who were still in the hacker business. It would take a while to get some answers. She secured her messages very carefully, not really sure why, but doing it nevertheless.

Penelope was tired, so she took a short nap. By the time she woke up again it was late in the evening. She got back to her computer, looking if she already got an answer.

There was just one. From her contact in France. After decoding it, she found a link to a video and a short message. It said that the governments over the world were trying real hard to hide videos like that from the link. But that she should believe what she will be seeing and that it is much, much worse as the news stations are broadcasting.

Now Penelope was really freaking out. She knew something was off, but that? She never would have thought it was _that_ bad.

After preparing herself for a minute she clicked on the link to the video. It was highly guarded and she needed almost 10 Minutes before she could finally watch it. As she was watching it, she got cold. She shook her head in disbelieve, not really realizing what she just saw. She played it again, and again, but it didn't seem to get more real. After at least watching it ten times, she read the message once again. Trying to put her head around it. She was shocked. _I really need something to drink._

She got into her kitchen and made herself something strong. It took her at least another five minutes to get her head back clearly. Penelope then downloaded the video and the message and saved it on a secured USB stick. Then she got back to search for more. Now she knew what she was looking for. She dived deep into the dark web and with every new information she found, something dark and cold grew inside of her.

* * *

 _Reality bites... and doesn't let go. ~_ Author Unknown _  
_


	2. Chapter 2

**I know this chapter is very short. But it was the best place to end this chapter. I promise though, I post another one a little bit later. Have fun reading.**

* * *

 _Some people can hack it, others can't. ~_ Author Unknown

* * *

 _What shall I do? Call Emily. No no. She said no calls. It's the middle of the night. Think Garcia. Think._  
Penelope then did the only thing she could think of. She sent a distress message to her entire team, saying that they should all meet at Dave's house. Now. It's about life or death.

She just hoped they would take her message seriously. Then she began to dress and put together her laptop and other computer hardware, things she needed, and, of course, the USB stick she'd prepared with all this sensitive information. She then picked up her purse and cell phone, grabbed her other stuff and went to her car.  
As she stepped outside, she looked around suspiciously, but saw nothing unusual. Penelope knew she was good, but she was caught once. And this time it was far more dangerous. But she had learned from her mistakes and her system was now safer than ever. Nevertheless she was scared like never before in her life.

When she was sitting in her car she looked at her phone. There were new messages from the team. Asking and worrying what was going on. Asking if she was serious. Penelope sighed heavily. She just answered: "Emily it's about what we talked. I'm deadly serious. Meeting at Rossi's now. I mean it."

Rossi's house was a bit out off town. No neighbors close by, it was almost a bit remote. Hard to be followed there without notice.  
Before she could drive out of her parking lot, her phone ringed for a new message. This time it was from Emily: "All do what Penelope said. That's an order."

Penelope let out a sighed of relieve. If the team would not believe her, they would definitely do what Emily just ordered them to.  
More then half an hour later she stood in front of Rossi's house. She took a minute to steady herself, grabbed her things and went to the door. Before she could knock, Rossi opened the doorway.

* * *

"Kitten, what on earth is going on?" Rossi waved her to come inside, while he asked his question.

"I'll explain everything later, someone else got here before me?" Penelope searched for signs of her other teammates.

"No, you are the first. The others are on their way. But Kitten, I am worried beyond. First your messages, I thought you were joking there for a minute. But then I realized you would not joke like that, and then the answer from Emily. What is going on?" Rossi was talking while he followed Penelope into the living room.

She just shook her head, went to the couch table, took her things out of her bag and started to connect them. Also connecting them to Rossi's large TV. Rossi just stood there, completely confused, his eyes growing even bigger when he watched Penelope reaching into her bra to get something out of it.

"What the..." Rossi started to speak finally again, but then the door bell ringed. He walked out from the living room to open the door.

JJ, Luke and Tara were standing at the entrance.

"Do _you_ know what's going on?" JJ and Luke both asked the same question at the same time.

"No, not a clue. Penelope arrived a few minutes ago, just saying she will explain everything later. And now she is in the living room turning it into something from outer space." Rossi guided the team back to Penelope.

As JJ, Luke and Tara entered the room, Penelope was almost finished connecting her devices with her laptop and the television.

She looked up for a moment, nodded slightly, then immediately focused on the technique in front of her. "No questions, I already said that to Dave, I'll explain everything later, as soon as everyone is here."

The others looked quizzically at each other.

"You should have seen what I just saw. She pulled something out of her bra. Something little. Why would she hide it here and what could it be?" Rossi whispered to them.

Luke got closer to Penelope, asking her if he could help her.

"No Luke. Thanks, but you would be not much help here. Last time I needed to show _you,_ how to use one of the programs at work, you remember?" Penelope answered him, not looking up as she was speaking. So she didn't saw the slight eye roll and smirk Luke had on his face. He gave her a whispered okay and went back to the rest of the team standing a few feet away.

* * *

Then the door bell rang again. This time it was Emily, Spencer and Matt. As they entered the living room, Penelope was finished with her computer stuff.

As soon as she saw Emily, she walked to her, grabbed her hand and lead her out of the living room while she was saying that she needed to talk to her.

Everyone else looked at them totally confused as they were leaving the room. Realizing just now that Penelope was wearing sneakers and not her normally high shoes.

When they were outside of hearing range Emily turned to Penelope.

"It must be very serious when you act this way, in the middle of the night, without talking to me first. I guess it couldn't wait until the next morning?"

"No. No it couldn't. I know you said I should come to you first. But its way worse of what we could ever imagine. They all need to know. Is it okay when I show and explain it to you same time as the others?" Penelope was pale, her eyes big circles.

"Yes, yes of course. How risky was it for you to get this information?" Emily started to walk back to the living room.

"Very. And harder you can imagine. I worked for hours, I am exhausted, but it couldn't wait." Penelope entered the living room first and walked to her laptop.

The others looked at Emily, their faces full of questions. Emily shook her head slowly.

"Yesterday", she began explaining to the others, "after I got our new orders I called some of my contacts at Interpol. I have not heard from Mark, since", she looked down at her wristwatch, "since more then 30 hours. A few others at Interpol, I also couldn't reach. With the few I actually spoke to, they were all worried but didn't - or weren't able to – to say whats going on. With all whats on the news, our strange orders and not getting any information from my contacts, I asked Penelope to dig into it. As deep as she needed to. It seems Penelope found some things out, but it was very dangerous and very risky. What it is, she will show us now, I don't have the slightest idea either."

When Emily spoke her last word they all turned to Penelope in unison.

Penelope straightened herself and started to speak.

* * *

 _We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. ~_ John F. Kennedy _  
_

* * *

 **On the next chapter you all will finally find out why Penelope is so scared and shocked. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**So here is the next chapter as promised, since the one before was way too short. I have two or three more chapters in store (just not looked over yet), and I already see the weekend coming. :-D**

 **Tomorrow I will update on of my other stories, maybe I find the time to post another chapter here too. Need to see how long the appointment at the vet takes.  
Have fun everyone.**

* * *

 _Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood._ ~Marie Curie

* * *

"Before I show you and tell you what I found out, let me explain one or two things. It was not easy. I got an answer from one of my former hacker friends in Paris. She said the governments were trying to hide it – all around the world. I don't know how they do it, normally you can't hide anything on the web. They must use a new program or something else, I don't know, never saw or heard anything about something like that. But that's not important, not right now. What I saw, I didn't believe it. At first. I went _deep_ down in the dark net. I hacked."

The others except for Emily all let out a loud groan. They knew what that meant. Penelope was risking her head. "But I am glad that I did. You will _not_ believe it either. Because it is something you can't explain, not even our genius there. So, let me show you."

Penelope clicked on a few things on her laptop and then the video started to show on the large television.

They saw a hospital, a patient lying in a bed, bleeding from a wound on his arm, looking like it was a bite wound. The quality was not the best, but it was clear enough. And they all saw their share of bite wounds through the years. It then showed that the patient died and that the doctors were confused. Such a wound would hurt, yes, but it was not life threatening at all. The video was now playing faster, on the side they saw the time move forward for about 10 minutes.

Then the video was again at normal speed. The monitors still showed no life signs from the patient. But nevertheless he began to move again. First really slow, as if he was drunk or confused. On of the doctors got closer, to examine him. That's when the patient suddenly grabbed the doctor and pulled him to his face. The patient then bit the doctors in his cheek. It was horrifying to watch, there was no sound but everyone could see the pain and the shock on the doctors face. The rest of the hospital stuff ran out of the room, fleeing in panic or calling for the security. They only could guess.

Meanwhile the patient attacked the doctor again, he was trying to pull away, but he couldn't do it. If he was too weak or the patient too strong, they didn't know. But the next bite the patient took was the throat of the doctor. There was now _very_ much blood. They all knew that the doctor was going to die. His throat was ripped into pieces, the patient still gnawed at the doctor. A few seconds later the doctor stopped to move and the patient stopped to eat. It sounded crazy, but he really ate the flesh. The patient stumbled to his feet and went out of sight from the camera, moving slowly and unsteady.

The video began to run faster again. This time only for 5 minutes. But what the team saw next was even more unbelievable then what they watched before. The doctor began to _move again_. First only one hand, then his head. A few moments later he began to move his entire body, trying to get up from the floor. The doctor was standing close to the camera, they all could see his open throat, they could see his eyes. And that was what scared them the most The eyes were dead. Completely dead of human emotions, only a rage and a hunger in them, but nothing they ever saw from a human being ever. The video ended as the former doctor walked out of the sight from the camera.

* * *

The whole team stood there in silent for a minute or two. Trying to realize what they just saw.

"Are you kidding me? Is that a video from a Zombie movie? Penelope, this isn't funny at all." JJ was the first finally able to speak again, her voice trembling.

"It would be a Zombie movie I never saw. And I saw all of them." Luke said, all of the others looking at him with big eyes. "What? I like Zombie movies." Luke declared with a shrug of his shoulders.

"No, JJ. Honey, this is _no_ joke. I found some other videos as well, all showing the same thing. Different locations, different attacks. But in the end, all the same. Dead people living again. More or less. I found videos like this from Europe and Asia. Nothing from Africa though. And these videos, they were only to be found on the dark net. And once they were posted, it usually only took a few minutes for them to disappear. To vanish. There are hackers out there, trying to post them on the web, the dark net, YouTube, Facebook and so on, but it doesn't matter how hard they are trying to spread them, they are vanishing as fast as they can upload it. I only have some of the videos, because I downloaded them. I show you some more."

Penelope started to push buttons again on her laptop. The others where talking all at once. Not realizing what they just saw, they couldn't believe it. Reid had a look on his face as if the world made no more sense at all. The only person who looked a little bit less shaken was Luke. His face showed shock too, but also something that looked like he was thinking, what all of this could mean for them and the near future.

* * *

Penelope started another video, and then another. All showing the same thing. When the last video ended, she said something that startled them all over again.

"That's not the worst. The worst is, that this last video you saw, was here. In the US. In Atlanta."

They all stood silence for a minute. Penelope let her words sunk in. Before the others could talk again she raised a hand.

"I tried to get information where this," she pointed at the now black screen of the television, "is happening. We know Asia and Europe and also Africa. The larger cities. But what I found is way worse then I thought. It's not the large cities anymore, it's all over. There were reports from over 500 cities in Europe alone. And it's spreading. Before I drove here, I checked again, and there were reports from at least a thousand towns. I don't think they can hide this any longer, I am wondering how they have managed to hide this for so long. But," Penelope led out a loud shivery sigh, "I found reports from the US, Canada and South America. Here in the US, there have been outbreaks in almost all larger cities. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and so on. Nothing yet in D.C. However," Penelope looked at the time, "that was two hours ago. I guess, it's only a matter of time. We need to start making plans, now."

To say that the team was shocked would be an understatement. They all began to talk at the same time, no one understanding what the other ones were saying.

"Stop it, dammit." Emily raised her voice. "This mixed up talking isn't helping at all. Stop the panic, think rationally, focus."

The others stopped talking, everyone of them taking in a deep breath.

* * *

"Okay, I may sound a little crazy but I do think we have a Zombie outbreak happening, as stupid as it sounds." Luke was calmer then all of them.

"That is impossible. There is no way something like this could happen. Ever. It is against the laws of nature. Statistically someone who is dead stays dead. 100 percent." Reid's expression was so funny, they would all have laughed, if the situation was different.

"Statistically or not, it's happening. We all saw it. We all trust Penelope's judgment and her skills." Luke responded to Reid. "First, Emily have you heard from the bureau? New orders?"

Emily shook her head.

"Okay, it will be just a matter of time. Soon they will need all hands on deck. As soon as this is spreading to D.C., we all will be ordered in."

No one had a pleased expression on their face with Luke's statement. They thought about what they saw yesterday of the riots in the larger cities in Europe and Asia, combining the fact of what they just learned, the dead rising, it was not very pleasant to think they would be in the first row of action.

"Until we are ordered in, I don't think deserting is yet an option, we need to prepare. Rossi's house here is remote and a few miles away from D.C.. If it's okay with Dave, you should bring your families here." Luke looked at Rossi who only managed to nod in agreement.

"JJ, call Will. Matt call Kristy. They should start to pack and prepare the children to move here. Tell them they also should pack up all food and water you have stored home. Also everyone of us should drive home, to grab our things. But it is better to be in pairs. Tara and Matt, you live not far from each other. Emily and JJ too. Reid, Penelope and me." Luke looked at each of them. When he looked at Rossi, who had his eyebrows up, because he wasn't mentioned, Luke nodded at him.

"Since Dave does not need to pack things up, he should go shopping and preparing here everything. Buy as much water as you can. Also canned food, every food that will not spoil so fast. And ammunition. Lots of it. We don't have riots and lootings here right now, but it is only a matter of time. If I am wrong, no harm done, except for having a lot of stuff. But if I am right, there will soon be chaos all over. And soon there will be also hamster purchases. We need to have everything in order, before we get called in. Or at least as much as possible for the short time we probably have left."

* * *

They all looked stunned at Luke. Not only have they never heard him talking so much in such a short time. But he sounded like he knew what he was talking about.

"Are you fucking serious? How'd you know all that, how could you be so calm and making plans like that?" Matt asked him. He could not believe how Luke came up with all of this in this short amount of time.

"Well, you heard me saying I love Zombie movies", Luke shrugged, "it's not just Zombie movies. I read a lot of Zombie books and dystopia literature. You can learn a lot of useful stuff in this books. And, though I am a little bit ashamed to admit, but deep inside, I have the soul of a prepper." He said that with a little grin, but everyone could see he was serious and embarrassed at the same time.

"Newbie, who would have guessed, you are even a bigger nerd then I am." Penelope laughed. Soon all of the others joined in. The laughing helped to ease the tension.

After a moment of laughing, Emily ordered them to start heading out and prepare as much as they could. She was relieved that Luke was keeping his head and made plans that made sense. She wouldn't have thought about the half of it, never figured to be in a situation like this.

They were going to their cars, when Luke started to speak up once again.

"I forgot something. Everyone should take their own car, but the pairs should drive one behind the other. So you all have more space for luggage. When you got everything at your homes, go shopping on the way back here. As much as you can manage to jam in your cars." They all looked and nodded at each other.

"Okay, see y'all soon. Stay safe."

Everyone said short goodbyes and got in their cars.

* * *

 _By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail._ ~ Ben Franklin

* * *

 **I hope it was infectous to read and that you all liked it. Soon more. :-)  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**And here is another chapter. Have fun.**

* * *

 _Preparation at the most individual and household basis is a key to our preparedness. It's important for people to have some water. It's important for people to have a storage of food. It's a good idea to have a first aid kid. What would happen in a pandemic if suddenly trucks couldn't drive and the 24 hour grocery story had no food. ~_ Michael Leavitt

* * *

With that they began to drive away. Luke followed Penelope who followed Reid. Reid should be the fastest to clear his home, since Diana passed away a few months ago. It hit him hard, and he was still hurt, but slowly he adjusted to it. Since he got no family left in D.C., there was no family he would bring with him. His father lived half the state away, and he had no contact with him anymore.

Penelope and Luke himself neither had any family. That's why he choose the three of them to go together to pack their belongings.

After a 30 minute drive, they were near Reid's Apartment. They could hear now more sirens over the town. But no panic yet, of course, it was in the middle of the night.

When they arrived, Luke stayed down before the house to keep an eye out. Penelope was going with Reid, to help him pack all the things he needed.

15 Minutes later they got back down, Reid had two large suitcases and a big backpack with him. Penelope had at least five bags with food and water in her hands.

"We need to get back up once more. There is some more stuff." Penelope said as she put the bags above the suitcases in Reid's trunk.

Luke was getting a little unnerved as he looked down at his watch. Time was ticking. For the last ten minutes, he heard at least a dozen sirens from police cars and ambulances from all directions. It would not be long until they would get called back to Quantico. _There must be an outbreak here in town, and by the sound of it more then one. We have to get faster._

* * *

Three minutes later the three of them were now on their way over to Penelope's. Luke decided this time to help pack things, trying to fasten the process. Also with a little thought, that he always wanted to see Penelope's home. He was never yet invited to her house, and yes, he admitted to himself, he was curious, despite the situation.

Her home was everything he expected and more. Full of color and life. Just one word came to his mind as he looked around. Warmth.

He then cursed silently to himself to start packing. Luke and Reid asked Penelope what they should take and where to put it. She gave them some back-bags and purses, all very colorful. She pointed to her kitchen for Luke, and she send Reid to the bathroom. She herself went into her bedroom to pack clothes.  
She decided to take only comfortable and practical clothing with her. If the world really stopped being what it was, and she had a strong feeling that it would, she wouldn't need high heels or pretty dresses for the moment. She just took her favorite dress and one pair of fancy shoes in one of the suitcases. All of her underwear she would bring with her. You can never have enough of them. Also one of her teddy-bears and her unicorn stuffed animal wandered into the other suitcase. She also packed her precious photo album in it, just to be on the safe side.  
She went through her other things, living room, office, bathroom and kitchen. She was acting like an automate, not really thinking just acting.

* * *

Another 15 minutes later they put the last of the bags in her car when suddenly a man appeared on the opposite side of the street. He was walking very unstable, Luke told Reid and Penelope to get into their cars rapidly. Reid didn't listen, he was standing a few feet behind Luke to help him if needed.

With one hand on his sidearm he watched the man coming closer. As he came closer and closer, Luke called to him to stop immediately. That's when the man finally looked up.

"Ya all know what the hells going on tonight?" The man asked. Luke almost didn't understand him. That man was so drunk, he could barely speak and walk. Luke relaxed a bit and told the man he should go home and watch the news.

In this moment he realized that most of the American people were asleep in their homes, not knowing what was happening. He was so concentrated on planing and getting his team prepared for what was coming, that he didn't thought about all the other people. His team, actually he saw them now more then as his family, had first priority. When they were safe and sound, then he could think of how to help others. _Focus, Luke. It will get very bad soon._

They now drove to Luke's home. His house was nothing like Penelope's or even Reid`s. Everything was in order, everything practical. Just one thing looked differently, and that was Roxy's corner. This corner was the only thing what actually looked liked a home. Luke ordered Reid to the kitchen and Penelope to grab all the things Roxy would need. He knew Penelope would think about everything his girl would need.

Luke didn't had much personal stuff to bring with him, just two photos, a little painting, his clothes and some bathroom stuff.

They were done in less then 10 Minutes.

When they went outside to put Luke's stuff in his car, they saw an ambulance and a police car rushing down the street. In the not so far away distance, they could hear more sirens and even a gunshot.

"Its getting worse, isn't it?" Penelope asked with a shaky voice.

Luke nodded. "We should get going. Follow me, we drive to the next wall mart. It's not far away."

* * *

Soon they arrived there and saw that there were already some other late night shoppers. More then usually at this hour.

"Okay everyone get a cart. Penelope you take care of food. Noodles, Rice, canned stuff, everything that will not expire in short time. And also dog food please." Luke then looked at Reid. "Spencer, you go to the water. Put as much as possible in your shopping cart. I myself will go to buy ammunition and other things that will come in handy. If your carts are full, pay and put the stuff in your cars. Then go back again and buy more. Second round you trade places. So the staff will not get suspicious. And don't take the same checkout. Just to be safe. 30 Minutes tops. We still have a 40 Minute drive back to Rossi. And I'm actually surprised that we have not yet received the call to report back at the bureau. Let's do it."

They all looked at their watches, nodded at each other and went into the shop.

30 Minutes later their cars were almost full, they decided to went in one last time. There were now even more people then before, it looked like the people now knew that there was something wrong and were starting to hoard.

Spencer and Luke waited at the exit for Penelope, she was just putting the last of the items in her cart and was reaching for her purse when the screaming started. The three of them looked around and saw a women getting attacked two aisles further down. A man grabbed her arm and was biting down on it. The women cried hysterically of pain and shock and tried to go away. Luke wanted to help her, but Spencer stopped him. He pointed outside the store to the parking lot, where another attack was happening, and further away another. _It´s spreading faster then I thought_.

Luke shouted to Penelope that they needed to go right now. The cashier was looking to the woman, who had finally managed to pull free from her attacker, with a shocked expression. Penelope said in a high, loudly voice that she wanted to pay but the cashier didn't react. So she pulled out a large amount of money, when Luke called out to her again, with a stressed tone in his voice. Penelope threw the money down in front of the shocked woman and rolled down her cart to the others.

"We need to move fast now. Don't stop and help. Nothing we can do. And I don't want to start shooting at this point. Not yet." Luke pushed them to their cars.

Penelope wanted to ask if he was serious about shooting people, but when she saw his face, she knew he was deadly serious. So she swallowed and speed up.

They were lucky, they came without further incident to their cars and jammed the last stuff inside. Then they drove as fast as they could to Rossi.

* * *

On the way their phones began to ring. It was a conference call from Emily. Everyone from the team was on it.

"I just got the order, we all need to report back to the bureau. JJ, her family and I are almost at Rossi's. Where are you guys?"

Tara and Matt said they were already at Dave's house unpacking and trying to calm Matt´s children.

Tara's father and brother were out of town. She tried to reach them, but they didn't answered her calls.

Luke said that they were 20 minutes away.

"Okay, here is what we are going to do. Matt and Tara, finish unpacking and then head to Quantico. When JJ and I arrive, we clear out one car and drive together. Will can manage to unload the other two cars once he has calmed down the children. Rossi, you drive now. Luke, Spencer and Penelope clear your cars out too when you arrive. And then drive to the bureau but don't come in all together or behind each other. That only will rise suspicion. And they are all alarmed back there."

Everyone agreed and Emily ended the call.

* * *

An hour and a half later everyone was standing in the B.A.U. Conference room.

"Okay guys. This is the situation. Cruz gave me our orders, he himself has no idea what really is going on. The government apparently still want to withhold all the information. But there are rumors all around the country. More and more videos are uploaded and they can´t handle it anymore. One news station and some of the radio stations are broadcasting the truth but most of the people doesn't believe it. Yet." She paused for a second.

"Our new orders are, to help secure the George Washington University Hospital. Penelope I want you back at Dave's house. No buts. We need you there and check how bad the situation is, keep an eye out if we need anything. The rest of us, we drive to the hospital. We stay there, as long as it is safe. I will not risk any of our lives. Even if this means to disobey orders. Understood?" She looked at all of them. Penelope was not very happy but she agreed. She knew she was not much of a help out there. The others had determined faces and nodded.

"Okay then. Wheels up in five." Emily just hoped she didn't said this for the last time.

20 Minutes later they arrived at the hospital except for Penelope. On the way they saw what they only could describe as chaos. Not as bad as they saw on the news from European cities, but it was getting there. And it was getting there fast.

In front of the hospital there where a lot of cars, some crashed into one another, people running and screaming around without sense. Some cars were abandoned, right where they were stopped. Emily, Luke and Tara in one car. Rossi, Spencer, Matt and JJ in the other. They parked a few streets away. Not wanting to be cut off and not be able to get away from this craziness when they needed to.

They all got out of the cars and where walking towards the entrance when another agent from a different unit approached them. He tried to explain to them what was happening, not knowing that they already knew probably more then he himself.

* * *

 _"The ten most dangerous words in the English language are "Hi, I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."_ ~ Ronald Reagan 


	5. Chapter 5

**I know it has been days. And this chapter is very short, but I wrote a few more, so the next update will be soon. Thanks for your reviews and for the ones who follow.**

* * *

 _Health is not valued until sickness comes. ~_ Thomas Fuller

* * *

 _They all got out of the cars and where walking towards the entrance when another agent from a different unit approached them. He tried to explain to them what was happening, not knowing that they already knew probably more then he himself._

Emily took the lead and asked the other agent where they should go. He replayed they should go to the back, to the emergency entrance and stay there and secure it.

Meanwhile back at Rossi's, Penelope started to gather more information. Not bothering with news from overseas, concentrating on the US. Also she looked for blueprints from the hospital, where her team was ordered to. Just to be on the safe side.

Will had put the kids down to sleep so had Kristy. They both came to Penelope, telling her that they wanted to know what exactly was going on. JJ and Matt hadn't had much time to explain everything in detail, just something with a lot of death and danger. But it didn't made sense for them. So Penelope explained it to them and showed them the videos.

Both were stunned and shocked. They both went back to their kids just to be sure they were safe.  
Will needed 20 Minutes to get his head clear again, or at least as clear as he could've managed it to. He then went down to the cars to finish the unpacking after that he sat down near Penelope, eager to find out if there were any news.  
He also started to search the web on his phone for tips how to prepare for a situations like this. Thank God there were a lot of crazy heads out in the world, who believed something like this could happen. Maybe they were not so crazy after all. He found some interesting stuff.

Same time at the hospital, the team instantly spotted infected when they entered the emergency floor. They started to shoot a few seconds later. They learned it the hard way that only a shot in the head would put the dead down for good.  
Tara was shooting a man, probably in his thirties, with bite wounds all over his feet and arms, who clearly was not living anymore. She shot him two times in the chest, but it only slowed him down for a moment. Before the others could even react, he bit down on Tara's shoulder.  
Luke pushed him away only a few seconds later. With Luke's push Tara lost her balance and fell down to the floor. Luke shot the man in the head. This stopped him finally. "Aim for the head, that will bring them down" Luke shouted to the others.

* * *

JJ and Reid were almost immediately beside Tara, trying to find out if she was hurt. Emily and Rossi fired their own guns. Luke also had two other infected coming his way, and behind them he could see more.

"We need to get out of here. Now!" Luke looked back at Tara. Spencer and JJ were helping her up.

"She is fine. He bit down on her west. Didn't get through. Luckily." JJ stated to the others. They all let out a relieved sigh.

"We can't go out the way we came in, there are too many of them." Emily shouted over her shoulder, firing again three times. Slowly they were being surrounded. They had spare ammunition with them, but maybe not enough for all of the infected in here and the ones they maybe would encounter on the way back to the cars.

"There." Spencer pointed to another door. "It will lead us out of here to the surgical floor." They began their retreat to the door. They looked around to see if there was anyone else still alive, but all they saw were infected people, really dead ones and a lot of blood among other fluids. They went through the door, seeing that the infected were following them.

"There is nothing to close the door." Matt shouted and looked around.

Luke went to the next rolling hospital bed and pushed it before the door, Emily noticing what he was doing, ran for another one. With Luke's and Matt's helped they pushed it above the other bed.

* * *

"That will hold only for a few moments. We need to get moving." The floor was awkwardly silent. They didn't know where the next exit was. Emily took out her phone to call Penelope. She prayed silently that she would come threw.

"Yes, Queen of the BAU, how can I help? What's the situation at the hospital?" Penelope answered almost immediately.

"We need a way out of here. The back entrance through the emergency floor is overrun. We are now at the surgical floor. Penelope find a map and get us out of here. As fast as you can. We don't have much time."

Penelope was shocked but automatically looking on the blueprints she fortunately had opened before.

"I already have it open. Tell me exactly where you are." Penelope asked with concern in her voice.

Emily looked around to get more details on their exact position. "I thank god for you Garcia. We are standing before OP number two."

Penelope looked at the map to find the fastest way for them to get out. Since Emily was in the front row she put her phone in Luke's hand. She needed to fire again, there were five infected coming from the other side, Rossi and Matt started shooting too. Luke, Tara and JJ watched the back, the way they were coming from. Hearing noises from the door and the beds before it, it was clear, their barrier would not hold any longer.

* * *

"Okay, found it." Penelope's voice screaming from the phone. She then explained to Luke the way towards the next exit, the team was already moving. She gave them directions until they found the side door, it was secured with an alarm, but neither of them bothered with it. As they opened the door a loud sound started to ring, but they were already out of the hospital, running towards their cars.

"Thanks Penelope, you truly are the best. We'll be back soon." Luke ended the call while he was running and shooting down one more infected that was in their way to the cars.

Near the cars there were no more infected, it was almost silent, just screams, shouts and sirens coming from the direction the hospital was.

Before they entered their cars they all stood there for a moment to catch their breath.

"That was far worse what I could have ever imagined. No more following orders, we are on our own now, lets head back to Dave's."

The ride back was silent. They all were shocked with what they just saw and experienced. To shoot people like this, and not only one, but at least twenty people, it left all of them speechless. Everyone was occupied with their own thoughts and how close it was that one of them got infected.

* * *

" _Something coming back from the dead was almost always bad news. Movies taught me that. For every one Jesus you get a million zombies." ~_ David Wong, John Dies at the End

* * *

 **I hope you still like it. Let me know.  
And the next chapter will come in a few hours, need some sleep, it is 2 am. Good night all.  
**


	6. Chapter 6

**Since the last chapter was rather short, this one is longer. Not the whole time there will be action and tension, but I do hope you all still like it. Enjoy.**

* * *

" _Nothing is impossible to kill. It's just that sometimes after you kill something you have to keep shooting it until it stops moving" ~_ Mira Grant, Feed

* * *

 _The ride back was silent. They all were shocked with what they just saw and experienced. To shoot people like this, and not only one, but at least twenty people, it left all of them speechless. Everyone was occupied with their own thoughts and how close it was that one of them got infected._

Penelope was looking at Will and Kristy who were wandering around the room, fearful of what they just heard on the phone. Will, a police officer before, put himself together fast and went out to the front door to wait for them, also taking Roxy with him so she could ran a bit outside. Kristy followed soon after.

Penelope was also close to freaking out, but she had handled situations like this before many times. She knew what her team was capable off and trusted them. She looked furthermore for new information. Now there was more and more out in the open. Either they couldn't control it anymore or they stopped trying.

She found reports of outbreaks in every large city, and in a lot of small towns too. State of emergency was declared half an hour ago, the news station now broadcasting that everyone should remain indoors, that if someone got bitten, they should stay away from friends and family, that they would be a danger for others.

The president gave a short speech, that the military and the National guard where getting involved, that he had ordered every military personal overseas back home. That this country will fight this crisis, that the American people were strong, and so on. Yadda yadda.

If they would have done that yesterday, maybe they could have prevented this outcome. But now it was too late. But most of the people didn't know that. They hadn't all the information Penelope had gathered. She knew instinctively that it would only get worse and worse.

There was no more stopping it. It had spread too fast and too wide. It was only a matter of time until everything was falling apart. She wondered how it could have spread that fast over the US in only a few hours. The only explanation was that the disease was here days ago and the government was hiding it. As an government employee she was very angry.

* * *

"They're back." Will shouted from the entrance door to the living room. "Roxy, here." The cars drove the short road from the gateway to the house.

When they all exited the cars, everyone of them looked exhausted and startled. Roxy ran to Luke and greeted him, tail wagging.

"Hey, my girl. You behave?" Luke spoke to Roxy while petting her.

Matt and JJ were greeted by their spouses, Will telling JJ he heard the phone call and was worried.

"It was chaos, it was... I don't have the words for it. It was scary as hell." JJ answered her husband.

"Without Garcia, I don't know if all of us would have made it out alive. It was close, too close." Emily told them and they all started to head inside.

In the living room, Penelope waited for them. When they walked inside, she gave each member of her team a big hug. "I am so glad you are all back."

"Thanks to you, Penelope. And that you had the blueprints already open." Emily told her, while hugging her back. The others thanked her too.

* * *

When they were all seated, Penelope asked them, what exactly had happened at the hospital. Emily told her, Will and Kristy everything they saw and what took place. The other team members made some comments in between.

When Emily reached the point where Tara was almost bitten, Penelope let out a little shriek and went to Tara to hug her again.

"Don't ever do that again." Penelope had tears in her eyes.

"Oh, Penelope. We didn't know how to kill this... this... sick people. Now we know. They won´t get that close to me, ever again." Tara assured her.

Penelope went back to her space on the couch beside Luke. When Emily continued with the story and told them how close they came to being overrun and that there was no way that they could have reached the exit, Penelope instinctively grabbed Luke's hand.  
She didn't even realize it, but Luke was trying hard not to smile. He made little circles with his thumb on the back of her hand, that's when she realized that she was holding his hand.  
She looked at him and her cheeks went slightly pink, she wanted to let go off Luke's hand, but he wouldn't let go of hers. He gave her a little wink, and started again with the little circles. Penelope's heart began to beat a little faster, she shook her head, so she could concentrate on what Emily was saying.

After Emily finished speaking they all were sitting silent for a few moments, trying to let all what happened in the last few hours sink in.

"What do we know about this, this... Damn we need a name for them. Are they still human? I mean they are dead, aren't they?" Penelope broke the silence.

"What we saw in the videos and in the hospital, they can´t be alive. Not with the injuries they had." Matt answered Penelope.

"I still don't know how this could be even possible. In nature, there is no explanation for that. But with what we saw and learned, I think this is a man made virus. We'll probably never find out how and who and where it was created, but I think it is safe to say, the infected people are dead and that the virus somehow keeps the body somewhat alive. Not the entire body, just functional parts, the virus need to survive. So they are not real humans anymore. I think we should call them VIPs." Spencer had clearly thought a lot about this. For a man like him, believing in Mathematics, Physics and scientific laws, this must be even harder to accept as for the others.

* * *

"VIPs? Like very important people?" Emily asked with a raised eyebrow. Not understanding why Reid would call them that.

"No, no, of course not. I meant VIPs for virus infected people. Sorry, I couldn't think of any other short name for them. But I just can not call them Zombies, Walkers, Undead or anything like that. I just can´t." Spencer answered with a shrug.

"Well, I think this name is as good as any other. At least it is short." Luke joined the conversation.

"OK, so what did we learn about the VIPs tonight?" Penelope asked again.

"They can be killed, but only with a head shot. Other gunshot wounds don't seem to bother them. And other injuries doesn't seem to bother them either." Tara had learned this the hard way.

"They are slow. But they don't stop when they see a living person." JJ added.

"To take one or two out of them, it's not that hard. But we saw, how dangerous it gets when there a lot of them." Rossi stated.

"They don't seem to be intelligent, they don't know how to use tools or even how a door works." Of course Spencer would have noticed how intelligent this things were or not.

"And we saw that doors don't stop them. They pushed on and on, just so they could get to us. A door, a window, that will not stop them for long." Matt said while holding Kristy's hand.

"Okay, that's some valid information." Will nodded, trying to learn as much as he can, since he didn't encountered any of them yet.

* * *

"I want to add some other information, I just don't know if it will be accurate. In all of the books I read and the movies I saw, a few things the infected had always in common. Of course it could be entirely different in real, but I do think we should be cautious until we know more." Luke started to say, he saw that the others thought about that. The Intel could be wrong, but maybe some things would still be right, and that would help them to survive.

"So what are those information's, Lord of the Nerds?" Penelope asked Luke.

He grinned a little about the name-calling. Penelope would not even stop finding new nicknames when the apocalypse was here. That was somehow comforting for Luke. To know, even how scary and dangerous this world became, Penelope would still make jokes. _She is a special one of a kind._

"So, we know, they can see us. That means they probably can hear us too. In the books and movies, the infected always had a very good hearing, in some of the fictions they could even triangle where the noise was coming from." Luke explained.

"That makes sense. For the virus to spread, it must be able to see and hear the prey. A virus always wants to spread, and it is very creative." Reid nodded.

"They also started to wander around. When they don't find any living thing, they go looking for it." Luke explained further.

"That means a lot of them could begin to walk out of DC."Emily hoped that this behavior would not come true.

"We know we can kill them with head shots. In the fictions you could put them finally down also with other severe head wounds. Smashing the had, stabbing into the brain. That kind of head trauma." Luke told them.

"This also makes sense. For the body to work, even limited, the brain need to function in a way. The virus probably is keeping a part of the brain working. Like movement control, eyesight, hearing, feasting. But not unnecessary parts like emotions, like pain. So if you destroy the brain, you destroy the function of the body and where the virus probably has its commanding center. Good thought. Maybe you can really learn some things from fiction. I just didn't realize that Zombie fiction could ever become something real. I don't suppose you have such literature her, Rossi?" Spencer looked at Rossi.

"You´re not really asking me this, do you?" Rossi answered him with a comical expression.

"Uhm, no, probably not, I guess." Reid shrugged a little.

* * *

"There a lot of other things, we should do to prepare. But I am just too tired and exhausted to think clear." Luke oppressed a yawn.

"I read some stuff online, about prepper and preparing. I found useful information there. At least I think it is useful." Will joined in.

"OK, we can talk about that later. We are all tired, exhausted and still a bit in a shock. We should rest. It's late, we need some sleep. To clear our heads." Emily said to the others and stood up.

Everyone agreed and started to head out of the living room.

"We should have someone keeping watch. I don't think any of the VIPs will find their way here, but just to be safe." Luke said before everyone was leaving.

"You are right. We should have a look-out. I think we should make a schedule. Two hours exchange rate. It is 3 am. I think everyone should at least sleep for seven hours, so we are all fit in the morning. We meet at 10:30 am again. Who will take first watch?" Emily looked at the others, she would be the first to volunteer to stand guard, but she was just as exhausted as the other team members.

"I can take first watch. I didn't have such a hard day and night like you guys." Will offered.

"Yes, you are right. I take the second." Kristy nodded.

"Then I take the third. I can watch the remaining three hours. I did take a little nap before I came here." Penelope said with a little smile.

They all nodded in agreement and went to their rooms. Rossi had quite a large house with a lot of rooms. But not everyone could have their own. Matt and Kristy got the master bedroom, they had after all four kids, with a mattress on the floor, they all fit in there. JJ, Will and their two boys got the large guestroom, it was a bit crowded for four people, but it was manageable. Rossi and Reid would take the other guestroom. Tara headed to the second bedroom, followed by Emily.

* * *

Penelope wanted to sleep in the living room, there was all her computer stuff and she had some alerts on.

"Uhm, Dave, where shall Roxy and I sleep?" Luke asked Rossi before he vanished into his own room.

"Oh, I am so sorry Luke. The last guestroom I have, it is being renovated at the moment. We need to clear that out tomorrow, so no one has to sleep on the couch. But for tonight, I guess I can only give you a mattress on the floor. You can have my bed though, even if my back will probably kill me tomorrow." Rossi cursed silently at himself that he didn't thought about the other guest room before. He could have asked Will to clear it when they were gone.

"No Rossi. No way I let you sleep on the floor, in your own house. I am used to sleep on the floor, no problem. Thanks anyway for letting us all stay here." Luke raised his hands a little.

"Of course. You are all welcome here, always. Especially in a situation like this. Come on, I show you where the spare mattress is." Rossi led the way.

* * *

A few minutes later, Penelope was already lying on the couch, Rossi had brought her a pillow and a blanket, Luke stepped in, not seeing much with the mattress in his hands.

"Newbie, what do you think you are doing?" Penelope asked with tired eyes.

"Uhm, putting the mattress down there so I can sleep." Luke answered her while dragging the mattress to the spot before the fireplace.

" _I_ sleep here, as you can see. I know you are sometimes a little slow, but even _you_ should see that." Penelope mumbled into the pillow.

"Yes, I do see that. The other rooms are all occupied and I thought you wouldn't want me too sleep in the kitchen." Luke said with a smirk, grabbing a spare pillow and blanket and putting it onto his mattress. Roxy was waiting beside him to join him.

"Hmpf, you are right. I do hope you don't snore. I need my beauty sleep." Penelope would have never let Luke sleep in the kitchen. She even had a bad conscience because he was sleeping on the floor. Sure, he had something between the floor and himself, but the mattress was thin and it looked very uncomfortable.

"Do you want us to go blind tomorrow?" Luke could barely hold his laughther back, he couldnt say why she was always able to make him laugh and joke, despite the situation they were in.

"What? What are you talking about McNewbieson?" Penelope had no clue what he was talking about.

"You are already so beautiful Chica, if you have your beauty-sleep now, you will dazzle us tomorrow with your presence." Luke chuckled.

"You really are more ridiculous then I thought. Go to sleep Luke, and turn the light off." Penelope rolled her eyes at him.

* * *

Luke went to the light switch, turned the light down and with the light of his phone shining down, made his way back to his sleeping place. He laid down, Roxy followed him and curled up next to his feet.

"Good Night, Penelope." Luke said with a hushed voice.

"Good Night Luke." Penelope whispered and turned around to get some sleep.

A few minutes later she heard Luke whispering.

"I meant it, Penelope."

Penelope's heart was again beating faster. She decided not to answer him, she was almost asleep. But before she fell asleep, she had one last thought. _Why is my heart beating faster lately when it comes to Luke?_

* * *

 _Beauty… when you look into a woman's eyes and see what is in her heart. ~_ _Nate Dircks_

* * *

 **I promise there will be an update soon.**


	7. Chapter 7

**I have so many ideas for this story, I can´t write fast enough. I am sorry that I didn't update the other stories yet, but I will. Promise.**

* * *

 _I'm not asleep... but that doesn't mean I'm awake. ~_ Author Unknown

* * *

 _Penelope's heart was again beating faster. She decided not to answer him, she was almost asleep. But before she fell asleep, she had one last thought. Why is my heart beating faster lately when it comes to Luke?_

Four hours later, Kristy went into the living room, trying to be as silent as possible and went to the couch to wake up Penelope, it was her shift to stand watch.

"Penelope, wake up, it´s time for your watch." Kristy whispered to Penelope and lightly shook her shoulder.

"Ugh, just another five minutes please." Penelope pulled her pillow over her head.

Kristy let out a little sigh, she was tired too.

"Penelope, please wake up." All Kristy could hear as response was another stumble.

"It´s okay Kristy. I take her watch. Thank you." Luke was awake the second Kristy stepped into the living room. Since he was in the war, he had a very light sleep.

"Okay, thank you." Kristy said and went out to get some needed sleep.

* * *

As Luke stood up, only wearing his boxer short, to put some cloth on, Penelope raised from the couch. She wanted to tell him, that he didn't need to take over her shift, but when she saw him standing there, half naked, the sun shining low through the window, she couldn't speak for a few seconds. Her mouth opened at the sight in front of her.

Quickly she pulled herself together. "You don't need to take over my shift. I am awake. We need the brain of yours later, so go back to sleep. And as you stated before, I don't need more hours of sleep." Penelope didn't look at him, but it was very hard not to do so.

Luke stopped in his movement to put his shirt on, looked at her and smiled. As Penelope took her pullover and put it over her cloth she was wearing, he was beginning to lay down again.

She started to head out of the room, when she heard him say something but couldn't hear it clear enough, just something about morning people and good looking.

She stopped and turned around. "What?"

"Oh nothing, I just said something to Roxy." Luke smiled innocently up on her.

"Yeah, of course." Penelope rolled her eyes again and started her watch shift.

* * *

Two hours later, the sun was now all up, she looked at her watch and couldn't hold back a little yawn. One hour and then the others would be all up. Then they would figure out what to do next. Penelope was scared, but she knew her team was good.  
She knew, if she had a chance to survive this hole horror movie coming true, then it was with this people. _Her friends, her family. Luke.  
_

The thought of him gave her small goosebumps, but she decided in her mind that the reason for it was the cold and not the thought of _him_. It was October after all and it was starting to get colder. She tried not to think about Luke, but somehow her thoughts were always wandering back to him. Just as she cursed at herself, she saw movement outside. It was too far away for her to see it clear. So she waited a few moments.

As the movement got closer, she could see a women in hiking clothes stumbling on her feet. As the woman got nearer she discovered that her clothes were partly ripped apart and the remaining things were bloody. She had wounds all over her arms, half her jaw was missing and she had only half of her hair left.

Penelope let out a shriek, turned around and ran into the living room.

* * *

Luke was already up, sitting on the couch where she slept before. She saw that he had folded her blanket and put the pillow on it. He was writing on a notebook when he heard her running into the room.

"What is it Garcia?" Luke was already on his feet when he saw Penelope's face pale with a shocked expression.

"Outside, there... there is a... VIP." Penelope pointed a finger towards the entrance hall.

Luke reacted fast, he grabbed his gun from the couch table and was almost out of the living room when he remembered he saw some poking stick beside the fireplace. He went back to them and took one out . Penelope was watching him the whole time and looked at him in confusion.

"I don't want to shoot it. It´s too loud. What if the VIPs can make out where the sound is coming from? Better to handle it differently. It´s only one, right?" Luke asked her while he was walking to the entrance door. Roxy was following him. At the door he ordered Roxy to sit down. They didn't know yet if this disease could infect animals too, and he didn't want to lose Roxy, and he knew she would try to help him.

He opened the door and stepped out, seeing the woman about 250 inches away. When she spotted him, she let out a groan and started to stumble right in his direction. He tightened his grip on the poker and slowly went towards the infected female.

* * *

"Luke, be careful!" Penelope said in a hushed voice to his back.

He turned around and gave her a little smirk. "Of course Chica, you don't get rid of me that easy." He then concentrated back on the task before him. He could hear Penelope mumbling something behind him about Newbies and their behavior. Luke usually would have smiled at that, but he was focused on the dead women before him, trying to learn as much as he watched her coming closer.

When she was just about two feet away from him, her arms reaching out for him, her mouth or what was left of it, moving like she was already gnawing on something, he moved around her fast and kicked her in the knees. She instantly fell down and with the spike of the poker he stabbed her in the brain. Her movements stopped immediately. He pulled his improvised weapon out of her head, looking down at it with disgust on his face. The brain had not its usually color of gray, it was black.

"There is another." He heard Penelope calling to him. He turned around and saw a man, also in hiking clothes. He was moving very slow, one of his feet clearly damaged severely. Chunks of flesh were missing from his calf, and he could see that his ankle was broken.

Probably the both of them were hiking in the close woods and were surprised. The man obviously was slower then the women because of his injuries. _Good to know._

* * *

He walked towards him, repeated the movement and killed the man for good. This time his weapon was stuck in the head, he placed his foot down on the men and with more strength he took the poker out of the brain. Again it had black brain fluids on it.

He looked around, to see if any other VIPs were there but he couldn't see or hear anything besides the wind and birds. In the very far distant he could hear some noise, but it was too faint to hear it clearly. He cleared the poker in the grass beside the body and headed back to the house.

Penelope was still standing before the door, her arms holding onto herself and with a worried look on her face.

"You okay?" Penelope asked Luke when he came closer.

"Yes Chica, I am. No need to worry, I told you, you don't get rid of me that easy." Luke smirked at her.

"Hmpf." Penelope rolled once again her eyes at him and started to walk back inside.

* * *

Luke leaned the poker beside the door, got out off his shoes and put them also next to the door. They didn't know how contagious this disease actually was, and with the kids and Roxy in the house, he didn't want to take any risks.

Penelope was again standing at the window, looking outside, as Luke went into the living room to get Roxy's collar and leash. He needed to take her for a walk in the garden, but did not want to risk that she sniffled at the bodies lying outside.

Penelope was watching him, walking again outside. Luke put back on his shoes, grabbed with one hand the poker, in his other hand holding the leash.

"I'll be back in ten minutes." Penelope wanted to say something but Luke interrupted her, "Don't worry." With a little smirk and a wink he turned around and walked away with Roxy.

Penelope let out a heavy sigh. _What´s going on with the both of us?_ Of course, they teased each other the whole time, but _never_ like _that_.

* * *

 _Let your heart guide you. It whispers, so listen carefully. ~_ Littlefoot's mother, Land Before Time

* * *

 **I am already writing the next chapter. :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Here is the next update, a rather long one, but not so much action in it. But there will be soon. Enjoy.**

* * *

" _Sorrow is how we learn to love. Your heart isn't breaking. It hurts because it's getting larger. The larger it gets, the more love it holds."~_ Rita Mae Brown, Riding Shotgun

* * *

" _I'll be back in ten minutes." Penelope wanted to say something but Luke interrupted her, "Don't worry." With a little smirk he turned around and walked away with let out a heavy sigh. What´s going on with the both of us? Of course, they teased each other the whole time, but never like that._

In the ten minutes Luke was away, nothing happened but never the less, Penelope was worried sick. _Why am I suddenly so worried about him?_ She knew he was very capable, he just killed two of this things, he was a ranger and a FBI agent, and yet she was standing before the door, looking for him and checking the time every few seconds.

Luke walked with Roxy around the house, so he would get a feeling of what was necessary to defend it. There where a lot of windows, that was not good. But Luke remembered that Rossi once said that there was a wall around his property, he would need to see that. Roxy was running behind the house, releasing herself and also doing her big business. Luke went to the spot to put it in a bag.

They then went back again.

When Roxy and Luke came back into sight, Penelope looked relieved and went in. Soon Roxy and Luke followed her inside.

* * *

"I don't think you need to stand watch anymore. Roxy will bark if someone comes close to the house. Lets start to make breakfast for the others. We have a lot of mouths to feed." Luke said to Penelope and commanded Roxy to jump on a chair under the window to look out.

"When Roxy is able to stand watch now, why didn't she do it the whole night?" Penelope asked him.

"Because my girl needed some sleep and also a dog can't see that good in the night." Luke grinned at her.

Together they went to the kitchen. The storage room was full, the fridge also and they had more stuff stashed in the basement. But they were 16 people and one dog and the food would not last forever. He made a note in his mind that they needed more of everything. Soon there would be no more deliverance to supermarkets and drugstores or any shipments at all. They would need gas too. Luke already started to make a list of things they would need, but now he put the thought of it beside and started to make breakfast with Penelope. They were teasing each other the whole time, they both were laughing when JJ, Will and the two boys joined them in the kitchen.

JJ was grinning when she saw the both of them standing before the stove, closer to each other then usual and both clearly enjoying the presence of the other one.

"Good morning you two." JJ greeted them, followed soon by Will, and the kids ran to their aunt Penelope hugging her.

Luke glanced back at them, greeting them and then concentrated again on the food on the stove. Penelope turned around, said also a good morning and bent down to hug the boys. She looked up at JJ and saw her still grinning.

"What's with the grin, gumdrops?" Penelope asked out of curiosity.

JJ looked at her, then at Luke and back to Penelope. Her grinning turning into a smirk.

"Oh nothing, Penelope. No reason." JJ got a confused look from Will and Penelope. But Will looked back at Penelope and Luke and started to smile too.

"Aha, no reason. That's why this southern hotness you call your husband is now grinning too." Penelope rolled her eyes, let go of the boys and began to work again at preparing breakfast for so many people.

* * *

JJ and Will helped them put the plates and cutlery on the table in the dining room. When they were carrying the food from the kitchen to the table, Emily, Tara, Rossi and Spencer joined them. Soon the whole food was put down and they sat down. Then Matt, Kristy and their children joined them.  
All of them thanked Luke and Penelope for making breakfast, they chattered a bit about anything other then what was going on. They did not want to frighten the kids any more as long as they could. And the travel in the middle of the night before, sleeping in a strange house, already made them confused.

"I tried to reach Morgan and Savannah, but they didn't pick up. I know they are in the south visiting relatives from Savannah, but I am worried." Penelope said into the round. Looking down at her phone, if there would be any new message from her hot stuff.

"Savannah's relatives, they live in a small village near a lake, Derek mentioned one time that there was not that good of a reception there. Maybe he has no cell phone signal , so he don't know that you tried to reach him. They out in the nowhere, Morgan is surely safe." JJ tried to reassure Penelope, but inside she was worried too.

"You heard something from you daughter, Rossi?" Emily asked Dave with concern.

"They are on Hawaii for vacation. Her mother, husband and son. I talked to her yesterday when I was driving to Quantico. They said that the air traffic was stopped completely, no planes in or out. I think the Governor there is trying to keep the disease away from the islands. I told her everything I knew, she said that they would be cautious and would prepare. I haven't spoken to her since, I can't get through." Rossi's shoulders dropped with every word he said.

"I am so sorry, Dave. We all are." Tara laid a hand on his arm and squeezed it a little bit, the others nodded in agreement. "I know what you are going through. My brother and father, they are in Canada, for a fishing trip. I left them messages. But it will be days before they find out what is going on. They are in a small cabin, with no running water or electricity. But at least I know my father has military experience, so I have to hope for the best. "

Rossi patted her hand which was still laying on his hand.

"You heard something from London, Emily?" Spencer asked. Since he had no one left he was concerned about, except for the people in this room, he at least hadn't such worries except for Derek and his family.

"No, nothing. Every time I tried to call Mark the voice mail came on instantly. Even if he did survive this long, there is no way to reach out to him, or a chance that I will ever see him again." Emily answered in a low voice, tears in her eyes.

That silenced the group sitting on the table for the rest of the breakfast. When they all finished eating, Luke told them that they needed to talk, mentioned that something happened when Penelope was on watch. Not telling them exactly what since the children where still in the same room.

* * *

Kristy called the children that they would go play in the billiard room and taking Henry and Michael with her. She knew she was the one person without any experience in a situation like that, and she was glad. Her only concern was the safety of her children, so she wasn't bothered to take care of them so the others could talk.

When Kristy and the children left, Luke said that they needed to go outside. They all went back to their rooms to get their shoes and met in the entrance hall. Roxy was still sitting on the chair in front of the window, looking outside. Luke released her from her post and gave her food. Normally he was cooking for her, but soon there would be no fresh meat anymore, so he gave her dog food from the wall mart, not very happy about it, but there was no changing that at the moment.

When they were all gathered, they went outside and he recalled what happened this morning. Everyone went to take a closer look at the bodies. They looked at him with a puzzled expression when he mentioned how he had killed them.

Spencer observed the bodies closely, saying something about the color of the brains, Luke told him that he noticed that too.

"We can't let them lying here. They will begin to decompose. They are already decaying a bit." Spencer said as he was finished examining the second body.

They all nodded in agreement, but no one made a suggestion on how to deal with the two cadavers.

"Since there are only these two, we should bury them. But I suggest to do it outside of the property." Luke finally said.

"I have shovels and a wheelbarrow in the garden shed. There should be also some gardening gloves to wear." Rossi was glad that Luke spoke out.

"Lets put them in the wheelbarrow and drive them out of sight. Before we start digging graves, we need to talk about our plans for the day and the days to come." Emily stated.

Rossi went around the house to his garden shed and came back with the wheelbarrow and some gardening gloves. Matt and Luke put them on, lifted the first body up and put it in it, they then went to the second and repeated the process. Then they drove the wheelbarrow out of sight.

"You should disinfect yourselves and put on other clothes. Until we know how contagious this virus is." Spence said to them when they were walking back into the house.

* * *

Matt and Luke went to change and to disinfect themselves and met the others back in the dining room. In the time they were changing the others cleared the table and were almost finished with the wash up. When everything was ready, they could hear the children laughing in the background, they again set all down around the large table.

"So what's the plan. Not only for today, but for the next days and weeks. Any ideas?" Emily started the brainstorm.

"Before we start to make some plans, we should know what the situation is. Any news, Penelope?" Luke asked Penelope and looked at her.

"The state of emergency was declared when you were at the hospital. Military and the national guard is already involved. I hacked into the military communication. Don't look so shocked, y'all. My systems are secured, and they really have other problems at their sleeves to look for a hacker. They entirely stopped trying to cover things up. Everything is out in the open. Back to topic, the military is having a hard time. They are retreating from every large city. The president and his stuff were already moved to a secure location. A lot of units are overrun. They have a lot of deserters. The soldiers obviously want to be with their families and keeping them safe instead of fighting an impossible battle. Some news stations and radio stations stopped sending, I guess they had outbreaks. The president gave the order to shut down the nuclear power plants, so America should be safe from a meltdown. It's chaos out there. Everyone is on their own. In some towns the power is already out, I don't think it will be long until the power is out everywhere. That means, sooner rather then later, there will be no running water as well. The entire air traffic stopped a few hours ago. The borders are closed. There is panic, looting, like in the videos from Europe." Penelope stopped speaking and looked at the others.

They all knew the situation was bad. But that it would be that bad, after a few hours, they couldn't believe it.

"How is it possible that the situation got so out of hand in just a few hours?" Tara asked the obvious question.

"Well, I asked myself this question yesterday night too. So I started digging." What Penelope really meant she hacked even deeper. "The government covered outbreaks up for about at least a week. They thought they could contain it. At first they were successful. But they made mistakes, one big mistake in particular. They didn't stop the air traffic and ship traffic back then. More and more outbreaks took place. They ordered the news stations not to report anything, they even had military in the stations to prevent them from sending anything they didn't want to be reported. For the web, they had a new program, invented by the NSA. Don't know how exactly it worked, but that's why I didn't found anything sooner. The government, the president and a lot of others knew what was going on, but they didn't warn the people. How many lives could have been saved?" Penelope had tears in her eyes out of anger.

They all were shocked when they heard the information and every single one of them felt anger and betrayal. They worked for the government, the same government who should protect the civilians and should have been trustworthy.

* * *

They sat there in silence, until Luke shook himself out of it.

"We can't do anything about it. It's too late and it's only a matter of time until the whole government is falling. Outside, it's already lawless. We can't be frozen out of anger. We need to prepare, so we stand a chance to survive." Luke's voice was full of anger, but it was in his character not to show any emotions or acting out of them. He felt such a betrayal, he went to war for this country, lost so much of himself and for what, he asked himself silently.

"You are right. We don't have time for that. Our survival is more important then our feelings towards our former employer." Emily said, and the others nodded in agreement. They would think about this in the days to come, in the night before they went to sleep, but right now they had more urgent problems at hand.

"We need to secure the gate, two VIPs already found their way in, and there will be more. Rossi, you said you had a wall around your property. How stable is it, how high and are there any weak points?" Luke asked Dave.

"The gate was broken a few years ago, I didn't put in a new one, it wasn't necessary. The wall is almost 7 feet tall, built of stones and it is very stable. There are two or three weak points where the wall is a bit damaged, but only at the side where the woods begin." Rossi answered.

"We need to fix this spots and build something for the gate." Luke was good working with his hands, but he never needed to built a gate or something like that and had no idea how to do so. But the would figure it out.

"If Morgan would be here, he knew how to build a gate." Penelope sobbed.

Luke took Penelope's hand and gave her a squeeze.

"He will be fine, Penelope." Luke comforted her, smiled at her and continued to talk. "We need more supplies. We have enough food for a few weeks. But we are many and winter is coming." Penelope giggled a lit bit at the last words from Luke, he looked at her in confusion, but she shook her head. With a confused face and a reminder to himself that he would ask her later what that giggle was about, he continued to speak. "Not one of us has any experience with planting crops or vegetables. And there will be soon no more food in the stores. We need more water and other supplies, I already began with a list but it's far away from being complete. We don't know how long we have running water or power." Luke know they had so much to do and to prepare and so little time.

"We should fill every bathtub and bucket and everything what can hold water. We will need a lot of water butts to catch rain. When it starts to snow, we will have enough, but until then we need to storage. We also should look for water purification tablets. The rain and the snow is not clean enough to consume without boiling or purifying it." Reid commented.

"A little farther in the woods, there is a little creek. It will be hard to carry the water back here, but we will not run out of water that way until it's frozen." Rossi told them.

"That's good. Maybe we can dig or build something to bring the creek closer, but that's a point for later. So water will not be a problem. But food will be. A lot will spoil fast, and in a few months there will be nothing left to loot anymore. We need to be self dependent." Luke pointed out.

They all looked at him in disbelieve. Except for Will who nodded in agreement. He had read on every prepper page that self-dependency was the most important thing in every crisis. The others knew that the situation was bad and it would take a long time to get better, but neither of them thought about that far ahead and what it would mean that there would be probably no supermarkets and civilization in the next years.

* * *

"I need books. About farming and planting, building, medicine, and everything else of what we will need to survive. With my eidetic memory I can learn faster then any of you, and no one of us has any experience to survive in a world outside from civilization and technology." Reid knew he needed to learn anything about survival and fast. Sometimes he cursed his ability to memorize everything he saw and read, with all the horrific things they saw in their former line of work. But now his ability was probably the one thing to keep them alive, not for the next days or weeks, but for the years to come, if they could made it that far.

"You are right Spencer. With your memory and your knowledge, you will be one of the most important people for our survival. I have some gardening books in the library, I also have a small greenhouse. Not much, but there are some tomato plants and herbs. I wanted to cook fresh." Rossi nodded proudly to Reid. It was hard on all of them, but Spencer was still thinking ahead and focused on what he could to best.

"We´ll need seeds and tools for planting. Building materials." Will joined the conversation.

"Yes, good point. We should split into teams, each team with its own task. We can cover more ground that way. I will probably be best in gathering stuff. Weapons, ammunition, batteries, survival equipment." Luke looked at the others. "JJ, Will and Matt are probably the best choice for what the kids will need, beside food. And since Will read a lot of prepper guidelines, you should also think about building materials for the gate."

"Spencer and I, we can take care of books and gardening." Rossi stated and Reid nod in agreement.

"I know one thing or two about medicine. And we also need sanitary stuff." Tara added and Emily said she would help her.

"I´m going to search maps, for stores where you guys can find everything on the lists of yours. I will make a list too when something important comes to my mind. It will not be long until the web stops to work. And then I am useless to you." Penelope's specialty would not be of use any longer and she had self-doubts of how she could help her friends in the future.

* * *

Luke and the other team members just wanted to assure Penelope that she would never be useless when her phone started to ring.

When she heard the ring tone, she knew that it would be Morgan, it was his special ring tone after all.

She grabbed her phone and answered immediately.

"Derek, thank god. I was so worried!" Penelope was almost screaming and turned on the speaker.

"Penelope, it's Savannah. Derek is driving right now, hold on, I put you on speaker."

"Baby Girl. Where are you, are you somewhere safe?" Morgans voice sounded stressed, exhausted and worried at the same time but still it was like velvet in her ears.

"Chocolate god of thunder I tried to reach you for hours. I am at Rossi's, the whole team is here." Penelope answered him and the others said short hellos.

"Good, that's very good. I hoped you all were together. I got your messages but every time we tried to call you we didn't come through. Something is wrong with the network, I guess. We are driving back to DC. We are 6 hours out, but with the traffic and the chaos on the streets I don't know how long it will..." The call ended suddenly. She tried to call him back, but it didn't work. She sighed heavily and began to sob.

* * *

"See, he is fine. And they are on their way here. Soon they will be here with us." JJ hugged Penelope, rubbing her back while Penelope was crying out of relieve.

They all were glad and relieved that Derek and his family were okay, but for Penelope it was way more. He was her brother, her soul mate. They had that special bond, neither of them could explain exactly what it was. Just that they needed each other.

"Okay, back to work people. Everyone has their task, lets get started. Later we also need to figure out where Derek, Savannah and Hank can sleep. But now we need to start working." Emily pointed out.

"When I am finished with the maps and I´ll help Luke, since he is working alone at his list. Dave, I will need your printer." Penelope said while she headed out to go to her computer in the living room.

* * *

 _Let every head of household see to it that he has on hand enough food and clothing and, where possible, fuel also for at least a year ahead...~_ President J. Rueben Clark, 1937

* * *

 **So it is already past midnight. To edit this chapter took longer then I expected. I am almost sure that there will be another update tomorrow. (Tomorrow for me.) Thank you all for your reviews and response. I am so happy that you like the story, even if some of you don't like Zombies. ;-)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Yesterday I was writing and writing and I didn't realize how late it already was and that I wrote more then two chapters (6000+ words). So there will be another update soon. I also will try to write more in advance so when I go back to work next week, there will be nonetheless updates regularly.**

 **I am feeling guilty that I don't update my other stories, but I am just too excited about this one and think about it all the time. But I will not abandon the other three! I just don't want to write them halfhearted. I hope you understand.**

 **I also thought about Hotch and Jack, and to tell the truth, I already had planned something sad and tragic for them in my mind, why the both of them would not be in this story. But after the review from** _ **iluvhotchme**_ **saying it would be great, if they would be in the story as well, I changed my mind and now I have already planned for them to appear and how. So thank you** _ **iluvhotchme**_ **for your review and your opinion. I will always try to oblige if someone want something to happen. I also want to thank** _ **MusicalCatharsis**_ **and** _ **msdiana**_ **for their reviews and encouraging words. I can't even begin to say how much I appreciate them.**

 **And now – enjoy.**

* * *

 _Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. ~_ Margaret Meade

* * *

 _"When I am finished with the maps and I´ll help Luke, since he is working alone at his list. Dave, I will need your printer." Penelope said while she headed out to go to her computer in the living room._

They split into groups to work on their lists of what the will need. They gave themselves an hour to finish them.  
Will, JJ and Matt went to the billiard room to make their list with Kristy and to be close with their kids.  
Tara and Emily stayed at the dining table, Dave and Spencer went to the library.

Luke followed Penelope and sat down on the couch getting his notebook and started writing while he heard Penelope typing on her Laptop.

Twenty minutes later Penelope stood up, walked away to Rossi's office and started printing out the maps where she marked a lot of different shops, gas stations, pharmacies and other stores. When she was finished she went back with the papers into the living room, put them down on the couch table and seated herself beside Luke who was concentrated on the notebook before him.

* * *

When she looked over his shoulder to glance at the list he turned around to her and smiled lightly.

"You are already finished with your maps? That was fast." He then looked back down on the long list he had already written down.

"Of course Newbie. When it comes to research you should know by now that I am a magician." Penelope answered him and started to read what he had put on that list.

"Sorry, Penelope. Of course you are magical." Luke smiled again at her with this special smile that would make Penelope's heart beat faster every time she saw it.

She didn't know how he meant his words and decided to let it go and concentrate on their task.

"You should add maps on that list. Soon I will not be able to get that information anymore out of the web. And since you added already stuff from camping stores on that list, you should add sleeping backs and thermal clothing. It will be freezing soon, and I have no idea how Rossi is heating this big house of his." Penelope pointed a finger down on his notebook.

"Good thought Garcia." Luke started to write.

They sat there for another half an hour, brainstorming together what would come in handy. Shortly before the one hour was over, neither of them had any more ideas.

"Good work, Pen. Thanks for the help. Without you I would have forgot a lot." Luke smiled again with his sweet smile at her.

Penelope's cheeks started to flush a little. "I never allowed you to call me Pen, no one does."

Luke wanted to reply but in that moment the others came back with their own lists. The hour of brainstorming was over, now would come the hard part. To get the things they would need. To go out there where the world turned into a living hell.

* * *

After discussing their lists for a short while, they started to argue if they should go out all together or split up to gather what they need.

"If we drive together, we are stronger, but we will also loose precious time. We split. Same as with the lists. Luke will join JJ, Will and Matt. Dave and Spencer will join Tara and me. So we are equally strong and we get more done." Emily decided.

"But we will not get enough done." Luke tried to argue. "I am fine on my own."

"No, no one will be out there all alone. That's not an option. We don't know the exact situation out there. We don't know if there is any order left, if stores are even open anymore. There will be armed and violent looters out there. People full of fear are unpredictable. You know that Luke." Emily shot back.

Luke sighed, he knew Emily was right, but he also knew that he was right too, they needed to gather as much supplies as possible.

"I will not stay behind again. I just don't. You out there, risking your lives, and I shall stay here. No!" Penelope was angry and even more she was serious.

"You stay behind Garcia. It's too dangerous out there. You don't have any experience." Luke dismissing her. Not that he thought she wasn't capable, but the thought alone, of her being out there, in danger, it frightened him more then he would admit to himself.

* * *

Penelope glared at him with fire and anger in her eyes. "Emily?!"

Emily sighed deeply. She knew that Luke was right, they needed to cover as much ground as possible. But she also knew that Penelope never had to shoot someone. Yes, she was out in the field, she was in dangerous positions before, and had handled herself very well, but out there that was something completely different.

"Emily, I know how to defend myself. I can shoot. Derek trained me, after... you know, after... I was shot. I can do this. I can be a part." Penelope starred at Emily, and Emily saw that she was determined to pull her own weight.

"Wait, what? You were shot?" Luke could not believe what he just heard. He was sure his heart stopped beating there for a second. He was trying to put the confusing emotions aside that he was experiencing right now. Shock, worry, anger of the person who could shoot a good warmhearted woman like Penelope. It took him a few moments, almost not hearing Penelope's response.

"Yes, I was shot. But that's not the point right now, Newbie!" Penelope snapped at him.

Luke looked confused at the others, but they all shrugged their shoulders at him. JJ mouthed to him that she would explain later. He nodded at her.

Emily sighed heavily again. "You are right Penelope. I know you can handle and defend yourself. I just thought you would not want to go out there and see the horrors up close."

"I don't want to, but I need to. Sooner or later I will not have the choice, better now then to be unprepared later." Penelope knew she would have had nightmares after today, but to survive she needed to learn, not alone how to handle herself out there, but also to help the others. She would not let them risk their lives while she was safe at home, she had hated that before when they were chasing Unsubs. _Never again._ She made that promise to herself just this morning.

* * *

"Okay, okay. Then three teams with three members each. JJ, Matt and Will, you worked together on the list of yours. You try to get as much of it as you can. Dave is with me and Tara. We go looking with him for Taras and my supplies list and the half of Dave's and Spencer's. Luke, you Penelope and Spencer get the stuff on your list and the other half. And no arguing over it any more. We already lost too much time discussing this. Wheels up in ten." Emily said, looking every member of her team plus Will in they eye and nodded at everyone of them.

They all smiled at her last sentence, having a familiarly feeling at her words. After nodding at each other they went to their rooms to get the stuff they would need. Will, JJ and Matt went to the billiard room. JJ and Will to say their goodbyes to their sons, and Matt explaining to Kristy what they planned and to say also his goodbye to his wife and kids. They hoped that all of them would come home safely, but with the unknown situation out there, there was no guarantee for it.

10 Minutes later they gathered outside. Penelope gave everyone a map she had printed earlier. They decided to take two cars for each team so they would have more space for supplies.

The driver in the front car would have another team member with him for navigating and the third member would drive in the second car behind. They looked at the maps and each team pointed at which stores they would trying to get the things. They then split up into the three groups to discuss what the best route would be.

"I will drive the first car, who will be my navigator?" Luke asked Spencer and Penelope.

"Penelope is better at navigating then I am." Spencer admitted, even if he didn't like to say that he was not as good in something as someone else.

"I don't think I want to drive anyways. I might get to distracted when I see something and an accident is nothing we need right now. And I am good with navigating, I brought you out of the hospital safe, didn't I?" Penelope was nervous, and she was afraid that Luke and Spencer would thought of her as a weight on their shoulders. But she was assuring herself that she would show them of what she was capable of.

"Okay, then it's decided. Everyone ready? Our first stop will be there," Luke pointed with one finger at a spot on the map, "it's a camping and hunting store." It was near a camping place with blockhouses. A lot of hunters bought their equipment there, or so he had heard.

* * *

"Good, maybe I get myself a weapon there." Penelope said as she took the map and went to Luke's car.

"Wait, you have no weapon on you?" Luke asked with disbelieve.

"Uhm, no. Not yet." Penelope answered him with an embarrassed tone.

Luke cursed for a second, shouted a short "Wait here" to them and started running back into the house. He left Roxy there, so she would warn and protect Kristy and the kids if someone or something would come close to the house.

A minute later Luke came out of the house again, the other two teams were just starting to drive away. He had another gun in his hands.

"That's my spare gun. Take it. You said you can shoot, right?" Luke handed the gun to Penelope and his voice was full of concern.

But for Penelope it sounded different. Like he was not trusting her.

"Yes, Newbie. I can shoot. Not only big muscular macho's can handle guns, you know?" Penelope snapped at him.

Luke and Spencer looked at her with confusion. Luke wanted to tell her how he had meant his words, but they needed to go. There would be later time for that, or so he hoped.

So they jumped into their cars and began to drive away. The first few miles they didn't saw any traffic or persons at all. The hunting shop was remote, and since it was not yet hunting season, they figured no one would be there.

* * *

Luke tried to make small talk with Penelope, not wanting to speak with her about important topics since he was concentrated on driving. But Penelope would only answer with short comments. He thought that she still was mad at him, but in truth Penelope was just scared and nervous, big time.

She was trying hard not to get panicked. Soon before they reached the store, she put herself together and straighten herself. _You can do that. You can do that Garcia. You are not a baby. You were shot before. You can handle this, easy peasy._ Talking to herself helped her before and it helped her now.

Luke then reached the store and pulled slowly into a parking spot, _old habits die hard_ he thought to himself. Spencer pulled in beside him. They got out of the cars and waited a minute to look for any signs, living or dead. Everything seemed to be clear so they went to the shop door with a closed sign on it.

Luke tried the handle, but of course, it was closed. They went back to look for another entrance, found another door, but it was locked too.

"What now?" Penelope asked the obvious question.

"We break in." Luke answered and saw the other two blinking at him.

"Wait, what? You.. we just can't.. break in there. That's against the law." Penelope gasped.

Luke sighed. "I know that. But we need that stuff. Sooner or later someone will come here, break in and take everything. Things we will need to survive." Luke was getting unnerved, clock was ticking.

* * *

"He is right Penelope. The old laws, the old world, it doesn't exist anymore, or will not exist any longer." Spencer gave Penelope a little smile and she nodded at him.

Luke broke the glass door with a stone, no alarm was set off. He cleared the glass pieces out with a wooden stick and grabbed with one hand inside to unlock the door. He told them to get some bags to put the stuff inside, since he saw no carts outside. He then went in and looked around for any movements. He smelled no decay or blood so he went further in, to clear the store of any danger. Two minutes later he was finished with the shop and the office behind it. He called a loud all clear out to them and they started grabbing things what had made its way on the list.

They hit the jackpot there. The shelves were all stocked, they even found enough ammunition not only for hunting rifles, from whom they also got five.

To look at the list and looking for the things took longer Luke had thought.

"Forget the list. Take everything what seems useful. We can look through the stuff later." Luke told the other two and they agreed. Sooner or later almost everything will come in handy one way or the other.

An hour later they had cleared the store for good. Spencer's car was already full, if there would be any police controls out there, they would be in trouble, but that would be unrealistic. So they didn't care that the car was overloaded.

* * *

The shelves were clear, every clothing, ammunition, rifle and a large amount of other things, they all took them. There were only some trophy's, and other useless stuff left.

They went out and all three looked down at the map concentrating on the next stop they would drive to.

Suddenly Spencer heard a small noise behind him, as he was just turning around something grabbed him. He managed to hold the thing off of him but it was strong. It was a man, dressed in hunting gear. His throat was ripped apart, so there was no sound coming out of him. The man tried to get closer and was clutching his teeth just inches away from Spencer's face.

* * *

 _There is a time to take counsel of your fears, and there is a time to never listen to any fear. ~_ George S. Patton

* * *

 **I really am thinking about if I should write chapters about what the other ones are experiencing when they are out on supply runs or the background story of Derek and Savannah. But it would mean to pause the story around Luke and Penelope a bit, and also it would mean a lot of work. Do you want to read other points of view and the background of Derek's and Savannah's travel? Or has someone interest to write it? Let me know. :)**

 **And tell me if you think I write to detailed about the whole thing.**

 **Soon to be continued...**


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you all for your kind words and your opinions. It helps a lot. I am so grateful.**

 **So you had to wait for this update a little longer, I had some things to take care of today. But I think I can promise you one chapter each day for the future. (** **I'm busy writing)**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

" _I'm sure my unique brain tastes the same as a normal brain. Actually, mine might be slightly tastier."~_ J. Cornell Michel, Jordan's Brains: A Zombie Evolution

* * *

 _Suddenly Spencer heard a small noise behind him, as he was just turning around something grabbed him. He managed to hold the thing off of him but it was strong. It was a man, dressed in hunting gear. His throat was ripped apart, so there was no sound coming out of him. The man tried to get closer and was clutching his teeth just inches away from Spencer's face._

"Anytime now guys." Spencer said, still trying to hold back the man.

Penelope let out a little shriek but grabbed nevertheless some hair of the man on the back off his head to pull him away from Spencer.

Luke had pulled out his gun and was pointing it at the man, but he had no clear line of sight. So he put the gun away and grabbed the poker he had put in his belt before they exited the cars before.

Just as Luke reached the VIP, Penelope and Spencer were finally able to push him to the ground, Luke then pushed the spike into his brain. They all let out the breath they were holding before.

"That was close." Luke said and turned to Penelope who was paler then he ever saw her before.

"You both are okay?"

"I am fine. Just glad I heard some noise behind me, or else this thing would have gotten me." Spencer said with a littler shiver in his words but pulling himself together fast.

"Ugh, ye.. yeah. I'm... I'm okay. I need to disinfect my hands. I, uhh, I have blood on them." Penelope said, looking shocked down at her hands.

"I have some disinfectant in my car. Just a moment." Spencer said and opened his car to look for the disinfectant bottle.

Luke was worried about Penelope, not only had she blood of an infected on her skin, she was also pale and shaking.

He put his hands on her shoulders and squeezed them lightly.

"You did great Pen. You reacted as fast as I did. You can be proud of yourself." Luke whispered to her. She only responded with a light nod.

* * *

Then Spencer was back with a box of paper tissue and a bottle of disinfectant. He spilled a lot of liquid over her hands so the blood would wash down, cleared the rest with some tissue and then poured liquid again over her hands and said she should rub her hands.

"That should do it. I don't think you can get infected that way. And you don't have wounds on your hands. And the skin barrier was always one of the best defenses against a virus." Reid insured them both.

Both Luke and Penelope were relieved. Since Reid was not worried, then there would be no reason for them. Soon after, they got back in the cars and drove to their next stop. It would probably be more crowded, since it was a shopping center, in a small town out of DC. But there they would find another camping store, a book store and a gun shop. It was a big risk but if they found supplies it would be worth it.

The drive would normally take about 25 minutes, but as they drove back to a more urban area, they saw more and more abandoned vehicles, accidents and VIPs.

Penelope was still pale but not as pale as before.

* * *

"You okay Pen?" Luke asked with concern.

"Of course I am Newb. Why wouldn't I be? And why do you call me Pen all the time?" Penelope's voice was still a bit shacking.

"Because it was you first time to be that close to one of them. And I am worried." Luke ignored the last question Penelope asked.

"I am not a little, scared girl. I have managed worse situations. For Christ sake I was shot, that was way scarier. So stop treating me like some... some..." She had no words. She was in defense mode, not because of Luke, but of what she just experienced. She knew she would be scared, but it was too damn close, Spencer almost got hurt. She was angry at herself for not copying better with this situation, angry at herself that she was scared that much.

"Ugh, I am sorry Garcia. I didn't meant it that way. You reacted brave and fast. You should be proud. I just worry about you, I don't want you to get hurt." What Luke really meant that _he_ was proud of her, that _he_ was scared to death when she got so close to one of the infected, and when _he_ saw the blood on her hands, he almost lost _his nerves_.

He was also worried about the rest of the team, he was scared as hell when Spencer was attacked, but not to the extent he worried and feared for Penelope. And that made him very confused and distracted, that could be dangerous for all of them. He would soon needed to think about his own feelings towards Penelope and figure them out fast. But for now he boxed them into a corner in his mind, like he did so often with his emotions in the last years.

"Sorry, Luke. Sorry, I snapped at you. I'm angry with myself, that I was so scared and that I am still am. I want to be a help for all of you and I act like a scared little monkey." Penelope sighed.

The road was getting more and more dangerous to drive on. A lot of VIPs were roaming around and there were cars all over the streets. But so far they hadn't saw any living person.

"It's okay Pen. I am scared too. We all are. It is good to be scared. It makes you more cautious. And if you would not have reacted that fast, Spencer would probably be one of them by now. You saved his life." Luke was serious and meant every word.

"Thank you Newbie. Really thank you for your words. And you really are scared too?" Penelope was feeling more at ease after his words. Why was it that he said exactly what she needed, until now, usually only Derek and JJ had been able to do that. _And now Luke. He is really a good guy. And so handsome, and his body... Stop with this nonsense Penelope. Focus._ She shook her head at herself, to have such thoughts when they were out there, driving to a shopping mall with who knew how much infected.

"Of course I am. Who wouldn't be?" Luke answered her, but then they both needed to concentrate on the road before them. The street ahead was blocked with a truck and a bus crashed into each other.

"We need another route." Luke said while slowing down.

"On it." Penelope was already looking at the map to find an alternative route. A few seconds later she found one and she told Luke which way to drive.

* * *

After another few minutes they could see the shopping mall ahead. It was not that big, only one floor high. But still there would be at least two dozens stores in there. There were not much cars in the parking lot, presumably the outbreak had happen here in the night hours.  
They could see that some people had been looting, the doors and some windows were smashed in, there were bodies outside. The cars that were parked, some were full of stuff others had their doors open. In one car there was a VIP, trying to get out but was clearly not able to open the seat belt or the door. At least a dozen infected roamed around, and who knew how many would be in the mall or in the area.

Luke decided to drive to the back where the delivery trucks would be offloaded. Back there were only two trucks and around there was a fence. Not very stable or high but it should withhold a few infected. But the gate to the suppliers zone was closed.

"I go out and open it, you stay in the car and as soon as the gate is open, you drive through, I lock it behind you." Luke told Penelope and she nodded.

He drove close to the gate and saw a padlock and a chain holding the gate close. He looked around to see if there were any VIPs near bye, and when he was sure it was all clear he got out of his car, opened the trunk and went to get a crowbar. He ran back to Reid`s car, told him what the plan was and rushed to the gate. He could see that some of the infected from the parking lot were following them to the backside.

With his second try he broke the padlock and opened the gate. Penelope drove through as soon as the space would allow it and Reid followed soon after. Luke closed the gate, put the chain back through and secured the chain with the crowbar. He rattled and pushed at the gate, but the improvised lock hold. He was satisfied. He then jogged back to the others.

* * *

"The gate will hold. We should look into the trucks if they are still loaded. Be cautious, we don't know what happened to the drivers and we don't know how many of them are inside. I have some other tools in my trunk, take something, we should only shoot if it is absolutely necessary. It could attract more of them." Luke told them, guiding them back to his trunk. There was an ax in it, a lot of other tools, some for the car, some for other things and another poker.

Penelope and Spencer looked at him with confusion.

"Hey, that worked so far, I thought another one could come in handy. You'll never know." Luke shrugged.

Spencer took the ax and Penelope the other poker. It was lighter then the ax and she had watched how Luke killed already three of the VIPs with that. So she knew in theory how to use it.

"Don't speak too loud inside, take some flashlights with you. We don't know how dark it is in there." Luke commanded and each one grabbed a flashlight.

 _He really thought about everything._ Penelope was quite impressed with his actions in the last two days. Not that he did not do a good job before, but he grew beyond himself.

Together they went to the first truck, the drivers door was open and the key still inside. The back of the truck was connected with the loading dock. Luke grabbed the keys and then they went to the other one. The doors were closed and locked, and the back was also connected with another loading dock.

They went up the stairs to the backdoor. Penelope and Spencer looked back to see if there were any infected, but only a few of them stumbled from where they had just come from. Luke checked the door if it was unlocked and they had luck. All three turned to the door, Penelope stood a few feet back, Spencer on one side and Luke grabbed the handle.

* * *

After nodding at each other that they were ready, he pulled the door open. And nothing. No sounds, no movements. Luke went in first, it was not as dark as he thought it would be. There were some windows in the ceiling and it was enough light coming through them, that they would not need their flashlights at this point.

Slowly they moved forward, looking for any movements. Penelope was in the middle of the trio and said in a whispering voice, "There is one, he is kneeing on the floor, feasting."

Spencer and Luke both looked at the infected. And it seemed that he had heard her whispering, since he was starting to get up and looked in their direction. They walked to him before he was fully up.

"I take that one." Spencer said in a low voice, he lifted his ax and smashed it down on the head of the man. It was obviously one of the truck drivers, his victim wearing a work overall with his name, Rosales, embroidered.

With the force that Spencer put into the blow, it went through the bone and deep into the brain. He needed two tries to free the ax, and when he pulled it out, it made a smacking noise and the weapon was full of black brain tissue. It looked disgusting. Spencer quickly cleaned the ax on the clothes of the trucker. Luke went to the head of Rosales and spiked his brain. Better safe then sorry.

They searched the hall but didn't find anymore infected. Together they decided to look first into the trucks and what was in the boxes through out the hall before entering the actual shopping mall.

* * *

The truck, where they found the keys, was a goldmine, it was half full with food. Some of it would spoil in a few days but there were also noodles, rice, instant dishes and a lot of different cans. Some of the food, that would get bad in a few days, they unloaded and stashed it beside.

"I could drive this truck home, if you, Penelope, could drive back my car. Then we could take all of that food with us and with the truck, we could block the gate back at Rossi's." Luke also thought about all the stuff that would fit into the truck.

"Sure handsome. No problem." Penelope agreed.

They went to the other truck, the back was open but it was already cleared out. They searched through the hall and found a lot of toilet paper and also a palette full of lemonades. Together they managed to load it up into the truck. When they couldn't find anymore stuff of what they would need in the storage hall at this point, they decided to finally move into the mall. They could come back later for the clothes, blankets, books and everything else they found in the warehouse.

The truck still had a good amount of free space left and Luke's car, an SUV, was still empty.

* * *

They went to one of the doors that would lead them into one of the stores. They didn't knew exactly what store it was and what would be waiting for them in there. The door was locked, but with the ax they managed to break down the handle and open it.  
They waited a few moments, because smashing the lock was loud. Since they could not hear any pondering behind the door, Luke opened it and Spencer was ready to bring down his ax in a moment notice.  
Nothing moved, but they could here some pondering on one of the other doors. It sounded that there would be only one or two, so they ignored it for the time being. One or two of them could not drag this steel doors down.

The shop had also some windows on the top, since the mall was only one store high. They found themselves in a book store. Spencer grinned at the sight of it. This was his specialty after all.

"Take one copy of each book what will be useful. Planting, building, anything what can help. I take this row, Penelope you this one and Luke this." Spencer pointed to the rows while speaking and wanted to go ahead but Luke stopped him. Spencer looked at him with confusion.

"We need to proof that the store is clear and also make sure, the entrance doors are closed, so we don't get surprised again." Luke pointed out.

"Yes, yes of course. Why didn't I thought about that?" Spencer asked himself.

"Because, genius boy, you were distracted with all of this lovely books before you." Penelope smiled and Spencer shrugged his shoulders and grinned in response.

They made a sweep of the store, it was not big and everything was clear, same for the office behind the cash desk.

The door was closed and with secured with a metallic rolling grid, so no way that there would get anyone inside without making much noise.

* * *

Next to the doors were some plastic baskets and each of them took one and started with their rows. Soon they had a lot of useful books.

"Maybe we should take some Zombie and apocalyptic Literature with us. After all, Luke learned a lot from this stuff." Penelope said to them when they were finished with their first task.

"That is a great idea, Garcia." Spencer said and Luke managed to hold back his laughter.

"You both like Comics, don't you?" Luke asked them while he was putting comic books into his basket.

"Uhm, yeah sure. But how would they help us?" Penelope asked curiously.

"You both like comics and you have never heard of the Walking Dead Comics from Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore ?" Luke asked in disbelieve.

"Ugh, no never heard of it." Penelope shook her head.

"Oh yes, I heard something about it. They planned to make a show out of it. But I was never interested in this genre. I didn't know you liked comics, Luke." Now it was Spencer's turn to look at Luke with disbelieve in his eyes.

Penelope giggled. "Still waters run deep, genius."

Luke smirked at that but didn't comment on it. They didn't know a lot of him and his life, and it was his own fault. He was never one to tell much about himself but strangely he got the feeling that this would chance. They would become even closer in the future and would be spending more time together then before. It was strange, but somehow he was looking forward to it.

* * *

A few minutes later they had all the books they wanted. They carried the baskets back to the truck. While stashing them, Luke saw some romance novels in Penelope's basket. He raised an eyebrow at Penelope.

She shrugged with her shoulders. "Soon there will be no more internet, no TV shows, no Netflix, no soap operas, and I don't think Dave has anything like that in his library. And a girl sometimes need her romantic stuff. To keep me sane."

Luke and Spencer grinned at Penelope, who grinned back and soon they were finished loading everything up. Luke looked at his watch.

"We have two hours left, then we need to drive back, if we come back to late they will be worried, so lets speed it up, but no risks."

Spencer and Penelope agreed and they went to the next door. Soon they had it open, they were already a rehearsed team. The next store was an electronic business. Laptops, Computers, Printers, TVs and other stuff. Nothing they would need anymore. Penelope looked at the things with big, sad eyes. What she could do with all this stuff. But she told herself, that this could not be changed.

They just wanted to leave the store when Spencer stopped and looked back.

* * *

Penelope and Luke stopped too and wondered what got Spencer so curios in there, that he went back in. They followed him just as he grabbed some boxes.

It was labeled for walkie talkies. Not as bad as children stuff and not as good as military ones, but it said that the range was about for 6 miles.

"Wow, that's great. Good job Spencer. I didn't thought about _that_. They for sure will come in handy." Luke nodded at him.

Each one grabbed two boxes, they now had 12 walkie talkies. They put them back into the truck and went for the next door.  
Same drill as before, but this time something fell down before their feet. Luke spiked the head of a woman in her thirties with bite wounds all over her body, she was wearing a working uniform.

When Luke wanted to pull out his weapon another one stumbled towards him, and he needed to make a side step, stepping on one of the arms of the now completely dead women on the floor.  
He lost his balance and pushed against Spencer who lost his balance too.  
Luke, Spencer and the infected, a former male who looked like he was the second truck driver, all fell down on the floor. Luke lost the grip of his weapon and managed to keep the face, and especially the teeth, away from him. He pushed him as far back as he could.

"Penelope, spike this thing through its ear." He shouted with a little panic in his voice. He knew he could only hold the VIP away for a few more seconds. This things were _strong_ , he didn't know why and he didn't care much at this point. Reid was half under him and could never reach the infected in time, especially since he could not muster enough momentum with his ax to kill him. It was up to Penelope alone if he would see another day.

* * *

" _Bitting into heads is much harder than it looks. The skull is feisty."~_ Ryan Mecum, Zombie Haiku: Good Poetry for Your...Brains

* * *

 **Whoa, that was a longer one, no wonder it took me so long to edit it. I hope you still like it and that it is still thrilling.**


	11. Chapter 11

**You would not believe how bad my days started. Yesterday evening I discovered an abscess on my dog. Of course the vet had already closed, so we decided to wait until today and call the vet then. And how could it be different, the abscess burst open in the early morning hours.**

 **But the vet took care of my little angel and it's not as bad as it looks. He said it was good that it had burst, because if not, he would have need to open it anyways. She just has another hole on her butt now, bigger then the originally one. ;-)  
On Tuesday we have the next appointment. Why I tell you that? Because I made you wait on this next chapter for so long, and to tell you, because of all of that, I got an idea for a One Shot – I will write it today and hopefully put it online also.**

 **Now enjoy this chapter. And thanks for hearing me out.**

* * *

" _You're never more alive than in battle."  
"Never more dead after," I say." ~_ Patrick Ness, Monsters of Men

* * *

" _Penelope, spike this thing through its ear." He shouted. He knew he could only hold the VIP away for a few more seconds. This things were strong, he didn't know why and he didn't care much at this point. Reid was half under him and could never reach the infected in time, especially since he could not muster enough momentum with his ax to kill him._

Penelope was frozen for a second when they were falling down, but as soon as she heard Luke's words, she reacted. She spiked the infected with the head of her weapon through the ear and the body went limp. She helped Luke pushing it away from above him so he could stand up and then Reid was on his feet again too. Luke looked into the next store if there were anymore VIPs but didn't saw any else.

He turned back to Penelope who had tears in her eyes. Spencer had already one of his hands on her shoulders. Luke went back to them and pulled Penelope in his arms and holding her tight. Spencer gave him a short nod and went into the store to clear it completely.

Luke rubbed Penelope's back until she started to speak.

"I thought... I thought it would bite you." She sobbed. "And I... I... killed him. I killed someone. I never killed someone before."

"Shhhh. I am fine. And you didn't kill a someone, you killed a thing. This thing is not a person anymore. There is nothing human left in them." Luke tried to comfort her and it seemed to work.

"I am so sorry that I cried." Penelope backed away a bit and cleared her face from the tears.

"That's normal Penelope. I would be more worried about you, if you had reacted any other way." He pulled her back in his arms again, gave her a kiss on the head and backed away. Spencer was still searching the store and he did not want to leave him alone for so long, not knowing if the entrance was closed, and if not, then there would be more unwanted company soon.

Penelope said she was okay, or at least as okay as possible and pointed towards the shop. Together they went in and found themselves in a Supermarket. Since they didn't need any light before they only found out now that the power was out.  
Because underneath the freezers were puddles and there was already a slight smell of foulness hanging in the air. They went to Spencer who was looking outside the store. The doors were still closed and a grid was in front of them, but behind they could see at least ten infected.

* * *

"You alright, Penelope?" Spencer looked at her for a second.

"Yes, brain head, I am. Just a bit startled." Penelope gave him a small smile.

Spencer nodded in understanding.

"The grid will hold them back for now, but I am not sure, it will keep them out forever. If enough of them are pushing against it, sooner or later it will give in." Spencer said to them.

"We only have another hour left until we need to drive back. Lets fill the carts with much as possible and push them outside the back door into the hall. We will need to come back here again tomorrow or the day after. There is too much good stuff left to leave it. Lets get to work." Luke said with a last glance out to the infected.

They took from the grocery store the most important things. They had filled three carts each, when they heard a loud sound and looked back to where the infected were still trying to get into the store. They managed to dissemble the grid and it now was pushed against the glass front. It would not be long until the glass was shattered. The three of them would not want to be there when _that_ happened.

* * *

"Time to go." Luke said while pushing his fourth cart to the back. Penelope and Spencer agreed and both of them drove their carts to the back door also. Just as they were all out and Luke wanted to close the door they heard the windows break. He closed the door fast, but since they had forced it open before, there was no way to lock it, and since the door was one to push from the inside, the infected would be coming out soon. They looked for something to block it but nothing stood out, except for a fork-lift truck.

"Hold the door closed. I'll be right back." Luke ran to the fork-lift truck and looked inside for keys, but they were not there. "Fuck!" He cursed. He looked inside for a second but then it hit him. He ran back to the two bodies they killed before.

The one, Rosales, was a warehouse worker, so Luke figured he probably had the keys on him. And he was lucky again. He ran back to the vehicle and it started with the first try. He drove over and loaded a pallet of heavy computer stuff, they had searched it before, and drove back to the Supermarket door.

Just in time he got there, Penelope and Spencer had a hard time holding the door closed. He drove as close as possible, shouted to them to step away, and as soon as they cleared the way he pushed the palette against the door. Even if the infected managed to break through that door, there was no way for them to push the palette and the fork-lift truck out of the way.

"Good thinking, Luke. But next time, be faster." Spencer said out of breath with a big grin on his face. Penelope giggled.

* * *

They pushed their carts back to the truck, and finished loading, just in time before they needed to start heading back.  
After they closed the cargo doors from the truck and secured it, they went back out. Spencer went to his car and Penelope went to Luke's.

They saw about two dozen VIPs around the fence, but none of them were at the gate. They lined the cars behind each other. Luke in the truck first, behind him Penelope and behind her was Spencer.

Luke's task was to open the gate, jump back in the truck as fast as possible and drive through, with Penelope right behind him. If there was enough time, Spencer should close the gate, but only if there would be no risk for him.

Spencer managed to close the gate just in time. As he entered his car one infected was stumbling against the Drivers door. He started the engine and caught up to Penelope. When he was only a few feet behind her, Luke started to drive back home and the two cars followed them.

* * *

The drive home was uneventful, besides of what they had saw before and what was most likely a big fire in the distant, towards the direction where DC was.

When they drove to the non existing gate to Rossi's House they saw another car standing in front of the entrance door, but not a car they knew. The others were clearly not back yet. As soon as they parked and left the cars Luke pointed to the foreign car.

"Any one of you know that car and who it belongs to?" Luke asked.

Penelope and Spencer shook their head.

"Oh my god. Kristy and the children! What if the driver of the car is vicious?" Penelope gasped and wanted to run inside.

* * *

"Pen, don't worry. If that person would have wanted to hurt Kristy and the little ones, Roxy would have defended them, and the person would have not stand a chance. And also, Matt gave Kristy a gun before he left." Luke shouted after her.

That stopped Penelope and she looked back at Luke. When she saw that he was not worried at all she calmed down and went to the entrance door in a slower pace.

Just as the three of them wanted to open the door it was opened from the inside. And there, they couldn't believe it, stood Aaron Hotchner, smiling and waving at them a hello.

Penelope reached out to him and hugged him tightly. A few seconds later, she realized what she had done and let go off him.

"I am so sorry, Sir. But I am just so happy to see you. Is Jack with you, is he alright? I guess you got my message." Penelope was blabbering. She loved Hotch as much as her other team members, but for her, he was always a respectable person, distant and silent. Not one she would hug or treat like the others.

"Penelope, Jack is fine, we both are. And how often do I need to tell you, to stop calling me Sir. I am not your superior anymore." He gave her a little hug and went to greet Spencer with a handshake and a clap on the shoulder. Spencer was smiling all over his face. He then greeted Luke with a handshake.

* * *

"The others are not back yet, but lets get inside. And no, Penelope, I didn't got your messages." Hotch said and went back in, followed by the others.

When they said their hello to the kids and Kristy, with a lot of hugs from Penelope towards them, they sat into the living room. Penelope went to check on her laptops but she saw that there was no more power. Her shoulders dropped.

"The power went out about an hour ago. Jack and I arrived about two hours ago. It was hard to get here." Hotch told them.

"So you got none of my messages? And from the others? I know JJ and Emily texted you too and we tried to call you." Penelope asked Hotch, finding herself sitting again beside Luke.

* * *

" _This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper." ~_ T.S. Eliot

* * *

 **Tomorrow I am back at work, so I it will not be updated until about 7-8pm, with about 7 hours difference time zone to America, that means no update until the afternoon – more then 24 hours. :o**

 **But I have 3 more chapters in store already – so you will get everyday an update, even if I don't have much time to write.  
**

 **I want to thank all of you for your reviews (I promise I will review yours as well, just didn't found the time yet) and I want to wish everyone of you a good** **start for the week** **.**


	12. Chapter 12

**So, after I finished my One Shot a bit sooner then I thought, I thought I could update,** **so all of you dosent have to wait that long. So next chapter will be up in less then 24 hours. :)**

* * *

" _You can't take highways during the apocalypse, because they'll be packed with panicky people." ~_ J. Cornell Michel, Jordan's Brains: A Zombie Evolution

* * *

"No, I lost my phone yesterday evening. Jack and I went to the movies when one of the... Kristy told me you call them VIPs... one of them turned and started to attack others in the cinema hall. I had no idea what was going on, but I needed to keep Jack safe. So we tried to go out there as fast as possible, while we ran to the exit I tried to call the police, but the line was busy. Then someone pushed me and I lost my phone. It was too dark and there was no time to search for it. As soon as we came out from the theater, I saw that there were other attacks happening and I could hear sirens all over town. Jack and I ran to the car and we drove home as fast as possible."

Hotch made a short pause, seeing the events from yesterday once more inside his head.

"When we came home I turned on the television, but there was nothing about the incidents we just witnessed. Jack was scared and so I brought him to bed. When he was asleep I tried to reach any of you at the bureau, but no one picked up. I watched again the news, and after an hour or two they started to report and then the president spoke."

Hotch made another pause, Penelope, Spencer and Luke nodded.

"I watched the news all night, at 8am Jack came out of his room with his phone in his hands. He told me that he got a message from Aunt Penelope, but he didn't know what it meant. I read your text and then I opened my mails and there I found your E-mail Penelope, explaining everything. Even it was hard to put my head around all of what you wrote, and what I saw on TV, I knew we needed to get out of DC and come here. So Jack and I packed up and we left. But there was no way we could have driven through town, there was panic, there where everywhere... VIPs... and the streets full of crashed cars. So we drove out of town, trying to get on the highway, but the highways were even worse. We needed to abandon our car and ran for our lives. We ran for half an hour, until we found an abandoned car. It took us at least 5 hours to drive around the city, we needed to backtrack a lot of times. But we managed. Thank you, Penelope, that you wrote not only me, but also Jack. You saved our lives. I don't think we would have made it out if we tried a few hours later."

* * *

Hotch finished his story. Everyone could see that he was exhausted.

"Kristy told me about the one guestroom, so I cleared it out and also cleared out the office for me and Jack. I already put in some mattresses and sheets. She told me also that Morgan, Savannah and Hank are on their way." They talked for another few minutes until they heard another two cars stopping outside.

They went out and saw that JJ, Will and Matt arrived with two cars fully loaded. When they saw that Hotch stood beside Spencer, Luke and Penelope they were all full of joy. They greeted each other and went in to say hello to their kids, followed from Hotch and Spencer.

Penelope wanted to head inside also, but saw Luke still standing outside, Roxy beside him. She saw that he looked down at his watch and then back towards where the gate was.

"You coming or what?" Penelope asked him with concern.

"They should be back by now. All of them are always right on time, and now they are more then ten minutes late already." Luke's voice sounded worried.

Penelope made a few steps, standing beside him. She hadn't checked the time, but after Luke's words, she was now worried too. Roxy was sniffling and running around a bit.

A few minutes later, Luke checked again the watch, getting more and more anxious. Penelope grabbed his hand and hold it. Luke closed his hands around hers and smiled down at her. They stood there for another ten minutes, when JJ came out and asked them what was wrong. Penelope just started to explain, when they could hear a car coming closer. Luke whistled for Roxy and she ran to him and set herself down beside him.

* * *

Only one car was coming and it drove fast. As soon as it stopped, Emily jumped out and shouted for help. Luke reacted in a moments notice and opened the backdoor. Inside there was Tara, pressing a bandage against Dave's shoulders. It was soaked in blood.

"What happened?" Luke asked, while he reached for Dave to help him out of the car. Penelope was standing beside him with a shocked face. JJ already running inside to get the others.

"At the last shop, we met other looters. They started to shoot at us as soon as they saw us. Dave was hit almost immediately and we needed to abandon the second car. There were too many unfriendly´s there. We drove away as fast as possible, when we thought we were out of reach we stopped so Tara could treat the gun shot wound. And then we came back here." Emily explained with a stressed voice.

Matt, Will and Hotch came out and helped Luke to drag Dave into his room he shared with Spencer. They had separated beds, they laid him down in of them. Spencer came in a few seconds later with a first aid kit. He was no medical doctor, but he knew enough of the human body to be first choice to treat Dave.

The room was overcrowded, so Luke told the others to wait outside. At war he saw enough gun shot wounds to know a thing or two about them, so he could help Spencer.

Spencer removed the bloody bandage. Dave was now unconscious. They saw the bullet was still stuck inside of the upper arm. It almost stopped to bleed completely. Spencer carefully examined the wound, and gave Luke a concerned look. Luke nodded in agreement and went to the door to tell the others, while Spencer bandaged the wound with new bandages.

* * *

"How bad is it?" Emily asked Luke as soon as he left the room. The others looked at him, all of them worried and concerned.

"The gun shot wound alone is not life threatening. We need to remove it, or it will get infected soon. But there is one problem. The bullet is too close to the upper arm artery. If we try to remove it, without experience, we could rapture the artery and if that happens, Rossi will bleed to death in seconds. If he moves his arm and the bullet roams, it could happen too. Neither me or Spencer can extract the bullet safely." Luke sighed. Dave would not die of this wound, but if it get infected, that could kill him. They had antibiotics and pain medication, but until the bullet was out, it would stay infected and the antibiotics could do only so much.

* * *

"Fuck!" Emily cursed out loud, stunning the people around her. They had never heard such an outburst from her before.

They all stood there in silence, trying to think of a solution. Spencer came out and said he bandaged the wound as good as he could, secured the arm, so Dave could not move it and told them, that Dave was awake for a short time and took some pain medicine and antibiotics and was now sleeping.

"Is there nothing we can do?" Emily asked, holding back tears.

Spencer shook his head. They all stood there in silence for a minute.

"Then lets hope Derek and Savannah will be here soon. She should be able to remove the bullet." Penelope said and fled then back to the living room.

They looked after her.

"She is right, they are on their way, and Savannah is a doctor after all." Emily said with a bit of relief in her voice. "Spencer should stay with Rossi, we others, we need to start working. There's no sense to stand here and do nothing but worry. We have cars to unload, graves to dig and securing this estate, and we only have a short time until it gets dark.

It was then, that Emily and Tara found the time to greed Hotch with a hug. They all were happy to see him, but the joy of him being here was shadowed with Rossi's injury.

Spencer went back into the room, the others heading out to unload the cars and the truck, telling each other what they brought back.

* * *

Luke stopped before the living room and looked inside. There was Penelope, standing and crying, at her feet her suitcases and bags. He went to her, pushed the bags and suitcases aside and took her in his arms. First she tried to pull away but then she gave in and cried in Luke's arms.

He rubbed her back and whispered reassuring words into her ear, to calm and comfort her. They stood there for a few minutes until Hotch came in to ask something. When he saw the both of them, he nodded at Luke and headed back without saying a word.

Minutes later Penelope was crying less and less and backed away from Luke.

"Thank... thank you." Penelope was still sobbing a bit.

"Always, Pen, always. He will be okay, you need to believe that." Luke said with a soft voice, reaching to her face to sweep away the tears.

"I know. I know." Penelope gave him a shaky smile. "It's just too much. All that had happened in the last 24 hours, it seems to be so much longer. First almost Spencer was bitten, then you were in danger, I killed one of them, and now this. It was just too much. But I am better now. Thank you."

* * *

Luke nodded at her words. He understood her, for himself it also seamed much longer then just one day and with everything that happened today, he would have broken down too if he hadn't experienced even worse situations in war. And he still had nightly nightmares of this memories.

Penelope reached down to pick up some bags to drag them to the guestroom, Hotch had cleared earlier, to put away her things. Luke helped her carrying them there. After her belongings where all inside the room, he wanted to leave but Penelope stopped him.

* * *

" _Did you ever think it won't be the undead who kill us, but ordinary people?" ~_ Steven Ramirez, Tell Me When I'm Dead

* * *

 **Next update will be around 7-8 pm CET. ;)**


	13. Chapter 13

**Sorry for the delay. I got an headache and laid down a bit, and then our new TV was delivered. Tomorrow you will have to wait that long, it's my day off. :)**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

" _If I can face a street full of rabid zombies, I can tell a boy I like him. Right?" ~_ Alison Kemper, Donna of the Dead

* * *

"We need to get your things too." She said and went around him to get some of his stuff.

Luke was confused and asked her what she meant.

"You will not sleep in the living room when there is a big enough bed in here. Since the other rooms are all occupied, you're stuck with me." She explained while carrying on of his bags into the other room.

Luke was stunned for a moment, then a little grin spread across his face. He would have never made such an proposal to Penelope, but he couldn't deny that he was happy she did. He instantly felt guilt over his own delight when Rossi was only a few rooms away wounded and hurt. But still he felt happy.

After they dragged his belongings into the room, Penelope turned to him with a question in her eyes. "Which side do you want. Close to the door or to the window?"

* * *

"You sure about that? I don't mind sleeping on the couch if this," he pointed towards the double bed in front of them, "makes you uncomfortable." Even Luke was happy she made this proposal, he would not want to made her uncomfortable or rush what maybe was going on between the two. He had girlfriends before, with sleeping overs, but he never lived together with a woman. After the war, no woman stayed more then one night, sleeping next to him, his nightmares scared them away. Only Roxy was always there.

"Yes, of course I am sure, Newbie. I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't. I don't want you to sleep on the couch, believe me when I say the couch is fine to sit on, but not to sleep. And well, now I have the chance to cuddle with Roxy every night." Penelope answered and looked shortly at him and then looked down.

Luke smiled at her last comment. He allowed Roxy to sleep in the bed with him, but the thought of Penelope and Roxy cuddling beside him, without him? _Am I jealous of my own dog right now?_ Luke then let this thought slip fast from his mind, to concentrate on his answer, the thought of Penelope in a bed with him, it distracted him. In a good way though. His heart beating faster, his stomach fluttering and arousal flushing through his veins. _Stop it._

"Ugh, okay. But you should know that I have nightmares, they can get scary." He mumbled embarrassed.

* * *

"There a risk of getting attacked by you?" Penelope asked with concern.

"What? No, of course not. I would never hurt you!" Luke said with a shocked voice and expression.

"Well, then there is no problem. I have nightmares too, you know?" Penelope answered him. "Is this why you said previously, you are used to few hours of sleep?"

Luke looked at her. He never talked to anybody about this before, except for his buddy Phil. Phil had the same troubles after war and after what happened when they were trying to catch the crimson king. He would be so happy if Phil was here right now. He was the best friend he ever had, his brother, his only family.  
Before he found a family at the BAU. But Phil had an accident, a year and a half ago, he was in a coma for months, until he passed away.

That was the worst time Luke ever had, every day he would still think of his friend and how much he was missing him.  
And now, he was standing before this charming woman, not being able to read her, but nevertheless cared such a great deal for. He had liked her for a very long time, always feeling better and more happier in her presence. But just the last two days, he had admitted or found out for himself, how much he was feeling for her.

And it scared him. This were very dangerous times, no one knew what even the next day may bring. What if he allowed himself to care and feel even more for her then now? What if something happened to her, what if they fell in love and then lost her? He didn't know if he could survive a heartbreak like that again. Loosing another person he loved, he cared for. And still, he couldn't stop himself from caring and opening up to her. It was as if his heart was acting on its own.

* * *

"Yeah, that's the reason. I get them almost on a nightly base. No women _ever_ wanted to experience that a second night." Luke sighed heavily and was still feeling a bit uneasy. Not that there were many womens after Iraq.

Penelope slightly froze at his words. Feeling a little bit of jealousy, asking herself where _that_ feeling was coming from. Even if they had become friends in the last few months, especially this last two days, and she always liked him more then she had ever admitted to anyone, especially to herself, she had no right to feel jealous or even to have a reason for it. He had his past, so did she. _So why am I slightly bothered?_ She put that thought back in her mind.

Luke noticed her change in position but had no clue what words he said caused it. Was it because of his nightmares and that they were bad, or was it the mentioning of other women. He only could guess. _Why is she so damn hard to read. You are a profiler. Damn it._

"Well this women probably have not seen, heard or experienced anything like I have, with this job. I am not scared away that easy. And like I said, sleepy head, I have nightmares too. So you can watch over me, and I can watch over you, and that sweet little Roxy will watch over both of us." And with that, this subject, for her, was finished.

* * *

Luke nodded his head and hid his smile. To call Roxy sweet was understandable, but little? _Pen will notice how big little Roxy is, when she occupies the entire bed._

After they put some of their things in the closet and the bathroom that belonged to the guestroom, they went out and checked how Rossi was holding up.

"Nothing has changed. He is sleeping, that's good. He will need his strength." Reid was sitting on his bed, his head leaning against the headboard. Penelope and Luke saw he already had some of the books, they got before, beside him, reading in one of them,

"When you are finished with these.. what are they called again... Walking Dead comics? I want them next, genius boy. Okay?" Penelope said to Reid as they were leaving.

"Yes, of course. I must say, they are quite interesting so far. The focus is not only on the Undead but a lot about the people surviving. There are some really good guys, but also bad ones. I just hope that there will not be that many bad ones in reality."

Luke knowing the comics already nodded at Spencer's opinion. They said they would be outside to help unload the cargo and if he needed help or Rossi's condition would change, he should just call them.

* * *

The next two hours went by uneventful, except everybody was worried about Dave. They cleared all the cars and stashed the things away in the cellar. There was only the truck left to unload, but it was getting darker with the minute. They agreed to work another half an hour and then would eat dinner. Since they needed to cook a large amount of food, Will and JJ got in and started cooking and preparing with the help of Kristy and the children.

Hotch was exhausted, but he worked as hard as the others. Feeling glad to be here and to work with his team, once again. He loved being a home staying parent for Jack, but he also missed his friends, more then he thought he would.

15 Minutes later Spencer came out to report something had changed in Rossi's condition. He got a fever, probably because the wound was getting infected. That was bad news, but there was not much they could do except for giving him pain meds and antibiotics. They all felt helpless. Spencer went back to stand watch again beside Rossi.

They finished the work for today and got in, refreshing themselves and changing clothes before dinner. Since the power was out, they lit a lot of candles and solar lights, they had charged up over the last few hours. It was not bright, but it was not dark either. It almost had a nostalgic feeling.

They sat down and started eating, JJ had brought Spencer his portion a little earlier, and they talked through dinner. Hotch recounted to the others again, how Jack and he had made their way here. JJ, Will and Matt reporting how their supply run was and just as Penelope was telling them what they had found and experienced, they could hear a car coming closer.

* * *

After it was so quite out there the whole time, not having heard another car for hours, they all were alarmed at once.

"Kristy, Hotch, take the children back to the attic. Penelope, go tell Spencer and stay with him. Will, go to the back and watch it, so we will not get surprised from behind. For the rest, we will see who comes here." Emily ordered them, not wanting to take any chances, not after they encountered vicious people just a few hours earlier and on of their own was shot by them.

With drawn guns Emily, JJ, Matt and Luke went to the entrance door, Roxy softly growling, standing in front of the door.

Luke ordered her at his side and to be silent, and she obeyed without hesitation.

* * *

A few seconds later a car pulled up front, holding near the others. Slowly they opened a window each side of the door, Matt covering one side, Luke the other, guns pointed towards the car. The car turned off his lights.

It was too dark outside, to spot how many people were sitting in that car. They hardly catched sight of someone getting out of the car.

Emily opened the entrance door and went a bit on the right side, so she would not be in the line of fire from JJ, who was standing a little bit behind her one the left.

"FBI! Identify yourself, there are guns pointed on you and you are surrounded!" Emily screamed at the intruder.

"Former FBI." JJ whispered to herself. And for a second she was overwhelmed with what had happened the last days. She needed only a moment to clear her mind again and focusing back on what was happening right in front of her.

* * *

" _My Zombie apocalypse plan is simple but effective; I fully intend to die in the very first wave.  
Seems more logical than undergoing all kinds of hardships only to die eventually anyway (through bites/malnutrition/or terminally chapped lips)" ~_Graham Parke

* * *

 **I have another chapter in store, and tomorrow I will have time to wright again, maybe even tonight for a little bit. Good night all, I hope you all have good dreams and no nightmares. :)**

 **And MusicalCatharsis - you won 10 points for having the right guess. ;-)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Sorry it took so long. I was at the Vet and he is very pleased. Thankfully. :)  
Thanks for all of your kind reviews and messages, they mean the world and are pushing me to write everyday.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 _We are the captains of our own ships sailing the sea of life, but in times of a stormy weather, you will discover true friends when they don't hesitate to be a lighthouse. ~_ Dodinsky

* * *

 _"FBI! Identify yourself, there are guns pointed on you and you are surrounded!" Emily screamed at the intruder.  
"Former FBI." JJ whispered to herself. And for a second she was overwhelmed with what had happened the last days. She needed only a moment to clear her mind again and focusing back on what was happening right in front of her._

First they heard nothing but then they could hear someone laughing.

"Well that's a nice welcome home, Prentiss!" Morgan called back.

All at once they holstered their guns, Emily and JJ reached Morgan first, who just helped Savannah, with a sleeping Hank in her arms, out of the car. After they closed the windows, Matt went to tell the good news to Hotch and Kristy. Luke went to Penelope, Spencer and Rossi. Rossi was sweating and Luke didn't see if he was sleeping or if he was unconscious.

"Everything is alright. Morgan arrived, safely with Savannah and Hank." Luke said to them.

Spencer nodded his head and said he would stay here with Rossi and welcome them later. Penelope on the other hand let out a shriek full of joy and started running towards the entrance room, followed closely from Luke.

When she stopped at the doorway, Luke could see the exact moment she laid eyes on Morgan. Her face brightened up and her smile was so wide and happy, tears of gratitude in her eyes.

* * *

"I heard my hot stuff just arrived." Penelope almost shouted and just as Derek turned to her, she started running towards him.

"Baby girl! I am so happy to see you. I missed you too!" Derek said while holding her close in his arms. They stood like that for a minute or two.

Luke was looking at them, his face like stone, his jaw hardened. While Penelope started to greet Savannah and little Hank, and Morgan was hugging Hotch and Kristy, who just came out of the house, JJ got closer to Luke.

"You know there is no reason to be jealous, Luke. They are very close, they have a very special bond. But never a romantic one and there never will be." JJ whispered to Luke.

Luke was a little startled, he hadn't registered that JJ was standing so close to him.

"What are you talking about? I am not jealous. I mean, why would I be?" Luke almost stuttered and was clearly embarrassed.

"Don't deny it Luke. It's written all over your face. The last months and especially this last days, everyone could see what Penelope means to you. Well, maybe except for Penelope herself. She always was a little bit oblivious of what's in front of her." JJ answered with a little smile. In the almost two years they worked together, none of them could ever read that much of Luke's expression and behavior as in the last days.

* * *

Luke sighed deeply. "Was it that obvious? I thought I had my expressions under control."

"You normally do. Except when it comes to Penelope. The whole team wondered how long it would take for either of you to acknowledge your feelings. It seems, you are the first. Too bad that money is nothing worth anymore." JJ now grinning and teasing.

"You guys knew all along? There was a bet?" Luke could not believe what he was hearing.

JJ just smiled and nodded. Since JJ had clearly figured him out and was one of Penelope's closest friends, he decided to confine in here.

"You know, I am not jealous about Morgan. Not in that way anyway. I just... I just wish.. Penelope would open herself up to me like that, too. To trust me, that I would be the one she cares for so much." Luke didn't know how to explain JJ exact what he was feeling, not really understanding it himself.

"I get it Luke. Give her time. She already trusts you, she cares about you. Give it time, and you see, when she realizes and admit to herself her own feelings, she will even care and love you more then she does for Derek. She just doesn't know it yet." JJ told him, giving him a little squeeze with her hand on his arm.

"Thank you, JJ." Luke was still a bit uneasy, but he felt better.

"Anytime Luke." JJ finished saying when they were interrupted.

Morgan, now holding Hank in his arms, next to him Savannah, were now reaching the entrance door.

* * *

"Alvez, good to see you." Morgan said, giving Luke a strong handshake.

"Good, to see you too Morgan. Pen was worried sick." Luke just realizing what he just said as Derek raised an eyebrow at him and got a curious look on his face.

JJ grinned at Derek when Luke quickly turned to Savannah to greet her.

After they laid Hank down on the couch, Savannah getting some medical tools from her backpack she wanted to see Rossi. They filled her and Derek in on what had happened, and she wanted to take care of Dave instantly.

Some of the others followed her, some went to take care of the children.

Derek sat down on the couch beside Hank to watch over him, Penelope and Luke sitting across from him. Derek looked exhausted and stressed out. Penelope never saw him that tired ever before.

"Baby Girl," Derek began to speak to Penelope, "why didn't you warn us sooner? We almost didn't make it. And it was too late to warn my or Savannah's family." Derek's voice angry and full of accusations.

* * *

Penelope blinked at him in disbelieve. She tried to call him and was speaking on his voice mail even before she arrived here at Rossi's. Explaining what she found out, even before she told the others what was going on. Risking a lot, speaking on an insecure line. After not reaching him, she send him several text messages and emails. She was worried sick and hated herself not to be able to warn and reach him, and now this accusations?! She felt anger rise in her. She just wanted to start yelling at him, when Luke spoke first.

"Pen tried to reach you, for hours. She was worried sick. If not for her, you would not be standing here, neither of us would. Maybe we would not even be alive anymore. You should be thankful, that she warned you and to do so, she risked a lot." Luke's voices was dangerously low, he managed to hold back his anger, but only with every self-discipline he had inside him. His hands were closed to fists.

"Thanks Alvez, for your opinion," Morgan snarled at him, "but that's something between me and Garcia. You, as the new guy, should not interfere in something you have no part of."

Luke looked at him with disbelieve. He only met Morgan a few times, but of course he had heard a lot about him. And everything he had heard and saw himself, just didn't line up with this behavior.

* * *

"Derek Morgan, how dare you speak to me and to Luke that way?!" Penelope rising her voice, trying not to do so, for the sake of sleeping Hank. "I did everything in my power to reach and warn you. I also wrote messages to your family and to Savannahs as well. You have no right to call Luke the new guy. He is with the team for almost two years. The world didn't stop turning when you left, you know? He is part of the team, part of this family. And I can deal with your anger towards me, but I can't accept how you are treating Luke. He is the reason why you, Savannah and Hank will have enough to eat for weeks, he is the reason we all will not freeze when winter comes."

Penelope stopped, throwing knifes at Morgan with her eyes.

He looked at her with wide, tired eyes. "You call him the newbie all the time... Momma." He tried to explain, that he was just dead tired, he lost it and wanted to tell her that he didnt meant his words like that.

But she stopped him.

* * *

"Don't Momma or Baby Girl me. I am allowed to call him Newbie. He is _my_ Newbie. Not yours. You, stop talking until you apologize to Luke. And to me." Penelope crossed her arms before her chest. She hated fighting with Derek, especially when he had just arrived and in times like that. But she would not let him treat her or Luke that way. _Wait, did I just say my Newbie?_ She looked to Luke, seeing a big smirk on his face, her cheeks started to flush. She really now wanted to be anywhere else.

"You know Derek, Penelope is right." JJ said while entering the room. Will behind her with raised eyebrows towards Morgan.

Derek breathed in deeply. "Momma, I am sorry. I'm exhausted, and tired. And in pain. I have not heard from my family. I know it's a bad excuse, but it's the only one I got." He looked at her with an apologizing glance.

She raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to speak further.

Derek turned to Luke. "Alvez, Luke, I am sorry. I had no right to talk to either of you that way. I know you are part of this family, and I am thankful for it."

Penelope was now satisfied, Luke nodded at Derek. He could understand the man, he would not have been angry, if he only would have talked that way towards him.

* * *

Penelope smiled and told Morgan that the apology was accepted and already his dumb outburst forgotten.

"JJ, remember me, that my Baby Girl is defending him, if I should ever try to be mean at him again. She can be scary as hell." Morgan smirking a little bit at Penelope's expression. JJ and Luke laughed too. Luke's heart full of warmth that Penelope defended him against her Hot Stuff. Not that he needed her to fight for him or defend him, but he sure liked it.

Just as Penelope wanted to answer Derek, Savannah, who looked exhausted as much as her husband, and the others all came back into the living room. All except for Rossi that was.

Savannah sat down beside Derek and gently stroke over Hanks head.

* * *

"I removed the bullet, it didn't severe the artery, but Spencer and Luke were right. A few inches to the side and Dave would have bleed to death. The infection should be over soon, and the recovery should only take a few days. The wound is not severe, it will heal nicely." Savannah told Luke, Penelope, Derek, JJ and Will.

Everyone let out a deep sigh out of relieve.

They brought then food for Savannah and Derek, Hank was still sleeping the sleep of exhaustion. While they were eating and telling them what they went through, Luke and Matt prepared a bed for the newcomers in the library.

The attic could be build into at least another two rooms, but it needed some handwork and clearing before it would be habitable. Another thing they needed to do in the next few days. As if there was not already so much to be done.

* * *

 _An apology is the superglue of life. It can repair just about anything. ~_ Lynn Johnston

* * *

 **I know, this one was rather short and had not much action in it. I am writing now at the next chapter, it will be uploaded in about 24 hours I hope. Until then - have a good night and a good day. :)  
**


	15. Chapter 15

**I had a very stressful day, but hey I managed to write yesterday a bit and today in my break. I also now have the app, that means I can write on my phone now too. Noooo, I am not addicted, not at all. :)**

 **I hope I can manage to update tomorrow too.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

" _Horror movies...odd how they became a guideline for survival." ~_ Riannon Frater

* * *

 _They brought then food for Savannah and Derek, Hank was still sleeping the sleep of exhaustion. While they were eating and telling them what they went through, Luke and Matt prepared a bed for the newcomers in the library._

 _The attic could be build into at least another two rooms, but it needed some handwork and clearing before it would be habitable. Another thing they needed to do in the next few days. As if there was not already so much to be done._

When Luke and Matt were finished with preparing the lair, Hotch and Jake went already to bed. Everyone had a hard day, but the newcomers especially, not to mention Rossi.

"Spencer, if something changes in Rossi's condition, wake me up. I am exhausted I will go to sleep too." Savannah said and lifted Hank up, to find some rest.

"I will be there in a few minutes, Babe." Morgan said and gave Savannah and Hank a little kiss.

The others talked a few more minutes, to decide who would stand watch. They agreed that the shifts would be 3 hours each, but this time two people will have a look out. So falling asleep would not be a danger, and after the events of the day, it was better to have two people watching then one.

It was not even ten at night, but all of them were exhausted and since there was no more power, they could not do much with only the solar lights and candles.

JJ and Matt would take the first watch, until one am. Followed by Emily and Tara until four am. After them, Will and Kristy would take the last watch until 7 am. Then they would eat together and make plans for the day. They had much to do and to prepare, but now they had more people, so at least they would be able to get more done.

* * *

After they said their good nights, Luke went out again to drive the truck to the gate, to block it as best as he could. At least no car would come through and only one or two VIPs at the time. The street to Rossi's house was a diversion from the road, so in the night, without streetlights, there was a good chance no one would see it. But it was better to be cautious.

After blocking the driveway, he went back in, called for Roxy and went for one last round. Inside he was being more then nervous, soon he and Penelope would be in the same bed. She would only be inches away from him. Nervous, that she could be scared of his nightmares. But he was also excited to be near her for hours.

* * *

Meanwhile Penelope wanted to leave the living room, but was stopped by Derek.

"Baby Girl, how you holding up?" Derek was back to his usual self and concerned for Penelope.

"It is hard. But I am okay. I must say, I am a little surprised of myself. And Luke is a great help too." Penelope was still scared, exhausted and overwhelmed with everything that happened. But still, she was better then she had thought.

"Ah, Alvez. So what's going on, between the two of you?" Derek asked her with a little smile.

"Uhm, what do you mean Hot Stuff?" Penelope acting confused while her heart was starting to beat a little bit faster once again. And then it hit her. She would soon be sharing the same bed. Sharing the bed with the man, she was very much attracted to and was liking even more. She thought about the morning, when she had watched him for a few seconds, his body in the early light, half naked. Her body began to warm up, her cheeks turning pink. She was lost in her thoughts until Derek started to speak again.

"It's me you talking too, Momma. Don't forget, _I know you_. And I have eyes. How he defended you earlier, and then you defending him? Not to mention you allow him to call you Pen. That's what your parents called you, you have never allowed anyone to call you that after they past away. Not even me. And the glances, I almost forget _them_. How he is looking at you, and the way you look at him? You know what I am talking about. You can't stand still right now, your cheeks turned even pinker and you clearly are a bit uncomfortable." Derek finished with a smirk.

 _Damn this profilers. Damn Derek, that he knows me that well._ Penelope sighed. She knew she could still pretend that she had no idea what he was talking about. But she also knew that he would not believe her.

* * *

"Angel face, I don't know. I like him. Very much. And yes, I'm attracted to him. I have been for a long time. But I had convinced myself in the last months that I was not. But now, the last two days, I can't convince myself anymore. We don't know what's going to happen and I long for a man of whom I do not even know if he feels the same as me. I'm so confused, I don't know what to do." Penelope babbled out a bit embarrassed but was somehow relieved the same time, that she finally had talked about her feelings. She was so glad her best friend was here now. She knew she could have talked to JJ and Emily or Tara. But Derek, he was special. He knew her better, sometimes even better then she knew herself.

"Baby Girl, I am a man. I _know_ he likes you. He would not look at you the way he does when he just has friendly feelings for you. And it's obvious that he cares very much about you. You should take some changes, I assure you, you will not get rejected. And what I have heard about him, he would never hurt you or break your heart." Derek was now standing in front of her, one of his arms around her shoulders.

"Now I will go to my beautiful wife and to my lovely son and tell them how much I love them." Derek hugged Penelope and kissed her forehead. "I wish you a very good and _interesting_ night."

"Oh you. Good Night to you too. Give my godson a kiss for me." Penelope answered Derek.

Derek smiled at her, waggling with his eyebrows and gave her a wink as he walked towards the library to get some very needed rest.

* * *

Penelope went back into the kitchen, to grab two buckets full of water. She dragged them into the room she was sharing with Luke and put the buckets down in the bathroom. She turned on some solar lamps so she could see.

She looked into the closet, trying to decide which pajama she should wear. It was hard to decide, she only had colorful ones, all sweet and playful but nothing sexy. _You don't need something sexy, Garcia. Even if Derek is right, and he likes you. Nothing will happen. Get it together Girl._

She decided to wear her favorite pajama. It was the only black one she owned, without the unicorns on it, it would be a normal one. But she bought it because of them. They looked so sweet, not like the usually unicorns. She had found it online, in an online shop from Germany, and she couldn't stop herself from ordering it. The shop, or the unicorn were called "Pummeleinhorn", the translation would be approxemetly something like "chubby unicorn".

She already had made a wish list, what else she wanted to have from that shop. She wanted to gift it to herself for Christmas. _Now I will never order anything anymore._ That thought made her sad. She pushed herself out of such misery thoughts and went into the bathroom to change. One bucket was for the toilet, the other one to wash. She already was missing a hot shower. _Who wouldn't?_

* * *

When Luke and Roxy came back from their walk and got into the guestroom, Penelope was sitting on the bed, her head leaning against the headboard, reading.

Roxy jumped on the bed, startling Penelope. She reached out to Roxy, to pet her and looked up at Luke.

"Hi." She said with a shy smile.

"Hi." Luke answered obviously as shy as she was. "You still sure you don't mind, sharing your bed with the two of us?"

Penelope rolled her eyes up at him. "Yes, I am sure handsome. There are two buckets in the bathroom. One for the toilet, one to wash. The water is cold, but well, showers are not working anymore."

"Thanks for dragging them here. What are you reading?" Luke asked her, while he got to his part of the closet to get a shirt and a pair of sweatpants.

"Spencer brought the first Walking Dead Comic just five minutes earlier." Penelope held the book up so he could see it.

"How do you like it so far?" Luke was interested what she would think about them.

"I just started, can't say anything yet." Penelope answered him with a little smile.

Luke nodded at her and went into the bathroom to change. When he came back, Penelope was reading again. She forced herself not to look at him because otherwise, there would be a great danger that her glances could quickly turn into staring at him. He went to look into one of his bag, taking the book out he started to read when they were on their last case in Atlanta. It felt like weeks had passed since then.

* * *

He turned on the solar lamp on his side of the bed, pulled the sheets up and sat down in the same position Penelope was sitting and started to read in his own book. Roxy was down at Penelope's feet, not yet taking much space.

A few minutes later, Penelope put her comic book down and looked at him.

"Can you imagine, waking up in a hospital bed, like this Rick guy did?" She pointed at the comic, "To a world that made no sense. To the horrors? Not knowing what happened, not knowing where your family is?" Penelope could not imagine what this would felt like. It was just a story, but the thought alone made her cold. She was grateful that she had her loved ones around her, her friends and family.

"Ah, I know at which point you are at the moment. No, I can't imagine that. Rick is a very brave and competent man." Luke answered her with a little smile.

"What are you reading?" Penelope asked nosy. She didn't wanted to read further in her own book, at least not now, before going to sleep. That only would remember her too much of the day events.

"The series is called _Until the end of the world._ It's a zombie apocalypse novel too, a trilogy, I bought them back when we were in Atlanta. I'm not sure what to think about it tough. The story is okay, but it also has a lot of romance stuff in it, so not sure if I like it." Luke now held up his book, so she could take a look at it.

* * *

"Because of the romance?" Penelope asked nosy.

"Ugh, yeah. It's just, they are trying to survive, and still they fall in love. Making them vulnerable, distracting them." Luke cursed silently at himself to bring up a topic like that.

"So you think, falling in love in a zombie apocalypse is a mistake?" Penelope was curious, she had raised her eyebrows at his comment.

"What? No, no, that's not what I mean. I just never have read a novel like that, and never thought that you could fall in love in times like that. But I was wrong." Luke's voice getting lower with his last words.

"What do you mean? What were you wrong about?" Penelope was curious. She now was sitting with crossed legs on the bed, looking at him inquisitive.

* * *

"Ugh, never mind." Luke rubbed over his neck with one hand, trying to chance the subject. No way, he would tell her, that he was wrong about falling for someone, while a apocalypse was happening, that he was falling for her just now. He tried to think about another subject, to distract her.

"I wanted to ask you something. When I talked about gathering supplies, because winter would be coming soon, you laughed. What was so funny about that?" Luke finally found another topic.

Penelope was laughing again. "You read utopian and apocalyptic literature, but no fantasy?"

Luke shook his head at her question.

"Have you never heard of _Game of Thrones_ , the television show. Or heard about the book series from George R.R. Martin, A _Song of Ice and Fire_?" Penelope looked shocked, not believing that someone could never have heard about it.

"Uhh, no. Should I?" Luke asked even more confused then before.

* * *

Penelope looked at him as if he was from another planet.

"I can't believe you don't know it. You _need_ to read that. You will like it, I'm sure." She explained to him what the books and the show was about. Explaining to him that _Winter is coming,_ is a motto from one of the family's in the books.

They talked about at least for half an hour about _Game of Thrones_ and _The Walking Dead_ and other books too. Both enjoying this conversation, forgetting about the world outside that room. Both were exhausted, but neither used to go to bed at this hour. Penelope picked up that Luke also liked computer games like she did, they learned that both liked the same genre of movies. They had more in common, then they would have thought, in other things they had different opinions, about music or food. It was fascinating to learn so much new from each other.

* * *

They forgot the time while they were talking and laughing, teasing each other in between. Both felt relaxed and content.

As the light from the solar lamps started to fade, Luke looked down at his watch, not believing that they just talked for more then two hours.

"We should go to sleep. It's past midnight, we need to be fit in 7 hours." Luke said, cursing silently that it was already _that_ late and that they needed their sleep to be rested for the coming day.

"Yeah, you are right." Penelope said, turning off the solar lamp on her side and laid down. "Good Night Luke, good night Roxy." Penelope felt safe, with Roxy on one and Luke on the side from her. Roxy had wandered from Penelope's feet to her side, laying now between the bedside and Penelope.

"Good Night beautiful. Good Night, traitorous dog." Luke answered while he turned off his solar lamp.

* * *

" _We are born. We die. Somewhere in between we live. And how we live is up to us. That's it." ~_ Steven Ramirez, Tell Me When I'm Dead

* * *

 **Thank you all once again, for reading, for enjoying, for following and for reviewing. You always make me feel better for knowing that you like what I am fabricating.  
And you all shoudl definitely check out "Pummeleinhorns". They are just too cute to be true. Nighty. :)  
**


	16. Chapter 16

**I am so sorry that it took me so long to update, I love my job but the last three drays were really exhausting and I slept tonight for about 13 hours or so. My doggy is doing ok, her hole is healing nicely. So at least no worry about that.**

 **Well, it took me long to update – but I think it was worth the waiting and I decided not to cut this chapter in half,** **so it is longer than initially wanted.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

" _He's funny and attractive. That doesn't mean I want to sleep with him." "That always means you want to sleep with someone." "Thanks a lot," I say. "Was that a thinly-veiled slut accusation?" "That's funny, it wasn't supposed to be thinly-veiled." ~_ Sarah Lyons Fleming, Mordacious

* * *

" _Good Night beautiful. Good Night, traitorous dog." Luke answered while he turned off his solar lamp._

Penelope thought she would not fall asleep, with Luke laying only inches away from her. She still felt her heart beating fast, but she was more exhausted then she had thought. After a few minutes she was asleep.

For Luke, who never slept more then five hours a night, sleep was not coming that easy. He could hear Penelope's breathing, feeling her presence close to him. He now had time to explore his feelings for her. He discovered that it was already too late to prevent from falling in love with her.

He was finally truthfully with himself, admitting that he fell for her a long time ago. He knew he was attracted to her from the start, but he never had admitted to himself that she made him wanting to be a better man, to be the guy she would fall in love with.  
Not that he was a bad guy before, but he wanted for her to see who he really was, wanting to be the man _she_ wanted. He sighted deeply.

It was good that he now knew what he was feeling for her. He would not be distracted by that at least anymore. But with this discovery, the fear that she would not feel the same way, the fear she could get hurt or worse, that she could die or get infected, it hit him hard. He felt cold, cold sweat on his skin, half way to a panic attack.

* * *

He forced himself to relax, using a breathing technique he learned back in Iraq. To calm himself, and working through his fear.

He was beginning to feel a little bit better, so deep in thoughts that he didn't notice that Penelope had moved closer to him until he felt her warmth beside him. He opened his eyes, it was dark but a little bit of light from the moon and the stars was shining through the window.

The last time he saw how bright the moon and the stars could be, was the last night out in the field, before his last deployment ended. In America, with all the electrical lights, he never saw the night like that again.

Roxy made herself comfortable, now occupying almost half of the bed. Luke smiled, he knew that would happen, and yes, he was somehow thankfully for it.

He got up on one arm and looked down at Penelope, sleeping peacefully with a little smile. The fears he still had, didn't vanish but they were now more distant. He could not let his fears win over what could be between him and her. The feelings he had for her were more precious as all the fear he had. He just hoped that she would soon return his feelings.

He leaned over her, put a strain of her hair away that had fallen onto her face and gave her a kiss on the head. When he lifted his face back up, he could see that her smile turned wider, but she was still asleep. _Good, I don't want her to think I'm a creep._

He laid back down, this time on his side, his chest slightly pressed against Penelope's back and sliding one arm around her.

He enjoyed that feeling, her in his arms, and soon he fell asleep too.

* * *

Luke didn't know what woke him up. First he thought it was one of his nightmares. But he was not sweating, he felt no panic, his heart was beating steady.

A second later he knew the reason.

Penelope was restless, moving her body, mumbling some words. She had a nightmare. Luke didn't know what to do for a second. He wanted to wake her, but how could he do it without startling her? Roxy was looking at Penelope too.

Luke sat up, one hand reaching for Penelope's face, his other hand on her shoulder. He whispered comforting words into her ear, slightly shaking her awake.

"No, no! Luke!" With her last words, she was almost screaming them, she woke up. She looked up at him in confusion. His one hand still on her shoulder, his other wiped one tear, that had escaped her eyes, away.

"Everything is okay, Pen. You just had a nightmare. Everything is fine." He whispered to her.

Suddenly Penelope sat up too and hugged him tightly.

"Oh God, I dreamed you were..." Realizing what she just did, she let go off him, looking down on her hands.

"I was what?" Luke asked her, looking into her face.

"I... I dreamed about earlier. When you and Spencer fell down on the floor. You.. you.. were bitten." Penelope told him, barely able to hold back her tears.

"Shhh. I am fine Penelope. Nothing happened. You saved my life." Luke closed his arms around her and held her, whispering again words of comfort in her ears, until she stopped crying.

* * *

"I'm sorry. Sorry I woke you up." Penelope managed to say, pulling once again away from his embrace, it was hard to back away from his arms, the warmth and the safe feeling she had.

She looked down at Roxy, who had laid her head onto her feet.

"You don't need to apologize, Pen. I'm here for you." Luke told her, holding one of her hands.

With one hand she rubbed over eyes, then she looked into his eyes and saw concern and something different, not sure what it was.

"Thank you Luke." Penelope whispered and placing a kiss on his cheek.

Luke was surprised and closed his eyes for a second, to let the feeling of her lips on his cheek sink into him, to save the memory in his mind.

"Always." He answered her, watching as she laid down again.

As he was beginning to lay down as well, he heard her whispering something.

"Sorry, Pen. I didn't hear you." Luke wanted to hold her, wanting to press her body against his. But he didn't know how she would react or even would be okay with that.

"Would you... Would you mind holding me for a bit. So I can go back to sleep?" Penelope was nervously waiting for his answer. Derek said he was sure that Luke liked her, so she had decided to take a risk. It was the end of the world after all, who knew if they would survive the next days or weeks. So why not trying to make the best of it, maybe even be happy?

* * *

Luke closed his eyes for a second as he heard Penelope's words. He wanted exactly that, and now hearing her words, he felt pure joy.

He turned around to her, one of his hands he laid down on the pillow above her head, his body sliding closer to hers and his other arm he put around her.

He could get closer to her, but he didn't wanted her to notice that their closeness already had some effects on his manhood. _You are not a horny teenager, Luke. Pull it together. Rossi in underwear. Grandma naked. Zombies trying to eat me._ But nothing he could think of helped. _Damn it._

Penelope had no idea with what thoughts and physical difficulties he was struggling. She just thought that she wanted to be closer to him, she already had taken the chance to ask him to hold her. _Why not risk a little bit more?_

She lifted her head a bit, reached with one hand for his arm and pulled it down, so she could rest her head on it. With her other hand she grabbed his other arm, closed the space between their body's, and put his arm around her. She could feel his erection at her butt. She smiled at that feeling and felt a shiver through her entire body.

Luke was entirely surprised with her actions. He also was a bit ashamed, she would feel his erection. _You are not a horny teenager anymore, Alvez. Get it together._ But well, she had that effect on him, he couldn't deny it. He wondered what changed her behavior, but didn't say anything, he just enjoyed it.

* * *

"That... feels good." Penelope mumbled, her eyes closed, feeling his warm body, she felt safe and warm.

"Yes." Luke needed to clear his throat. "Yes, it does." He placed a little kiss on her forehead. He was not thankful of what happened to the planet, but he was happy that it brought Penelope and him closer together.

Both fell to sleep soon after, smiling. The rest of the night they spend in each others arms.

Luke was lying on his back, Penelope had turned in her sleep, her head now resting on his shoulder. Both of his arms were around her body, one of her arms laid on his chest, the other one around his waist. Luke was awake when the alarm clock started to ring at seven am

He felt fresh and full of energy. He wondered that he had no nightmare tonight, maybe Penelope was even capable to relax him and let him forget his memory's when she was asleep. That thought brought another smile on his face. He looked down at Penelope, who just started to wake up. _She is so beautiful and sweet._

"Mhm, just five more minutes please." She said in half awake voice.

"We need to get up, Chica. I need to let Roxy out, and they will wonder where we are." He said to her in a low voice.

"Please, just a bit longer Luke." Penelope answered him and pressed her body even closer to his.

Luke let out a little sigh. He could just not deny her that request. He didn't even wanted to, she felt way to good in his arms and if it was up to him, she could stay there for the rest of the day. His manhood was clearly feeling the same way. He was just glad that his sweatpants were not tight.

* * *

Both of them must have fallen asleep again, they woke up when there was a knocking on a door. A few seconds later, they were just starting to wake up fully, the door opened and JJ stacked her head through the crack.

"Are you both okay?" JJ asked. When she saw them in each others arms, her eyes grew big and a smile started to rise. Meanwhile Roxy was already waiting impatiently to get out of the room.

"Uhm, sorry. I didn't want to disturb you too, but it's half past seven, breakfast is ready, we are just waiting for you two. I let Roxy out while you both get dressed. Come on, Roxy." JJ was now grinning.

While JJ closed the door, Luke and Penelope could hear her talking to Roxy. "I guess you didn't get much cuddling this night, did you Roxy?"

* * *

Luke chuckled a bit, when he looked down at Penelope, he saw her cheeks beginning to blush.

"Oh my God! What will they think?" She gasped and pushed herself away from him as fast as possible. It was not easy, since their legs were tangled with each others.

"I'm guessing they will talk now who won the bet." Luke grinned. He felt not a bit embarrassed, he was too happy and amused.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Penelope asked him, not looking at him and searching for clothes she would wear today.

"JJ told me yesterday, that they have a bet. Who of us two would first admit that he or she, had feelings for the other." Luke answered her question, while he grabbed his own clothing.

Penelope finally looked at him, mouth open, eyes full of surprise, blinking fast. Her cheeks felt as if they were on fire.

"Uhh, I don't know what to say." She managed to stumble, went into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. She leaned her back on the closed door, trying to get herself and her feelings together. She was brave in the night, when it was dark and when she was afraid because of her nightmare. Now in the daylight, she asked herself, what had gotten into her. Not that she didn't dreamed of lying and sleeping in his arms for months, and that it felt way better in reality. She wondered where she got the boldness in the night, and why it had vanished.

* * *

"You don't need to be embarrassed Chica." Luke said to her through the door, still smiling. "We both needed that and we both liked it. No reason for embarrassment. I want to hold you in my arms every night as long as you want that too."

While Luke was talking Penelope got out of her pj's and into her clothes. She brushed her teeth and her hair, applied a bit of mascara. Not going full on her make up, they were already late and for fighting VIPs she would not need to be styled up.

"Penelope?" Luke asked concerned when she didn't reply. Now he was starting to feel a bit uneasy.

Just as he wanted to knock on the bathroom door, Penelope opened it.

"Why?" She asked, putting all her courage into this one word.

"Why what?" Luke asked her irritated.

"Why do you want to hold me in your arms every night? Why did you flirt with me in the last days? Why?" She spoke so fast, Luke almost didn't understand her questions, when she was finished speaking, he smiled at her.

"I will answer your questions, as soon as I am finished with my morning toilet." He smirked and went into the bathroom and closed the door. When he would finally tell her how he felt, he wanted to do it in the right clothes and most importantly, with brushed teeth.

Penelope looked after him, surprised and without words. At least for the first few seconds.

* * *

"What? He can't leave me like that." Penelope got closer to the door. "Newbie, you can't let me standing here like that, without answering my questions. You can't do that. Do you hear me?"

Luke was having a hard time brushing his teeth while he tried to hold back his laughter. He thought to himself, that he was never as fast with changing clothes as this morning.

Penelope just wanted to open the door, to getting some answers when, this time, he opened the door.

Penelope looked up at him, opening her mouth to speak but was stopped when he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her closer to him. His head was leaning down so he could look at her face, pulling her even closer, holding her tight. She had her hands now on his chest and her mind went completely blank when his lips where only an inch away from hers, looking into his eyes.

"You want to know why I want to hold you in my arms every night? Why I flirted with you the last days?" Luke asked her, his voice dark and husky.

Penelope only managed to nod her head.

"Because I wanted to do that for months. I want you Penelope Garcia. From the moment I first saw you, I fell for you. And in this last months, my feelings for you grew every day. I am in love with you." Luke looked closely at her face, wanting to mesmerize every second of this moment, every feeling that Penelope was showing on her face. He waited patiently for a sign that every word he just said sank into her mind. When it did, the brightest and sweetest smile spread across her face.

"You... uh... should kiss me now." Penelope said breathless, happier then she ever felt. One of her hands grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer, to close the inch they had between them.

* * *

 _The decision to kiss for the first time is the most crucial one in any love story. ~_ Emil Ludwig

* * *

 **So I hope you all liked it. And welcome to new readers. For those of you who don't care about romance, soon there will be action again. For those who don't care about Zombies, there will be some in the next chapters – but also some romance.** **I am trying to have some balance between zombies/action and romance/interactions.** **Tomorrow I will update again (promose), and** **I'll try to write some chapters in advance so I can update regulary during the week.**

 **Thank you all for your reviews once again, they make me want to write more and more. :)**


	17. Chapter 17

**Sorry my dears I didn't update on Sunday as promised. My Internet crashed and I couldn't upload. Yesterday I was too tired. But, at least for me, it had one good thing – I managed to watch finally the latest season from "The Last Ship" and I wrote a bit in advance for this story here.**

 **Enjoy. :)**

* * *

" _Ye werena the first lass I kissed," he said softly. "But I swear you'll be the last." ~_ Diana Gabaldon, Outlander

* * *

" _You... uh... should kiss me now." Penelope said breathless, happier then she ever felt. One of her hands grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer, to close the inch they had between them._

 _Finally._ Both of them thought as their lips found together. First the kiss was slowly, almost shy. As Penelope opened her mouth a little bit, she instantly felt Luke's tongue touching her own, playfully at first. Then Luke pressed Penelope against his bulge and her hand rummaged in his hair, their kiss was now full of desire and passion. Penelope's knee were starting to give up on her but Luke held her tight. She could feel his heart beat and he could feel her shiver. They entirely forgot the time while kissing, none of them wanted to end it.

"Uhm, Baby Girl. Luke. I... I, uhm, don't want to disturb you two but, uhm, I knocked twice and you didn't react, and uh... we are waiting for you." Derek was standing in the now open door, smirking at them and feeling a bit uncomfortable. That side of his Baby Girl, he never saw before.

Both Penelope and Luke were startled and broke their kiss. Penelope turned around so fast she almost dripped, Luke steadied her and hold her in front of his body. He really didn't want for Morgan to see his arousal. That would only give the teasing, they both would get from him and the others, even more munition.

Luke cleared his voice, while Penelope was still trying to keep her breathing under control.

"We'll be there in a minute."

"You sure? Because last time you told JJ the same thing." Morgan was still watching them and grinning. He was so happy that Penelope finally found the right guy. And that Luke was the right guy, of that he was sure. He registered how Luke looked at Penelope, and after talking to JJ just a few minutes ago, it made him even more sure.

"Yes, Hot Stuff." Penelope finally found her ability to say something again. Her cheeks were flushed off getting surprised from Derek like that.

Derek gave them both a wink when he went out of the room, back to the others, surely telling them what he had just witnessed.

* * *

"You can let go off me now, Luke." Penelope said to Luke while she had turned her head so she could see him. "You don't need to hide behind me any longer."

Luke let her go and smiled. "So you noticed that you were my shield?"

"Maybe I didn't hear the knocks on the door, but surely I noticed your... uhm... your..." Penelope's mind just could not find the right term, she didn't want to sound too vulgar or too girlish.

That made Luke grinning and also a bit embarrassed. "Well, you do have that effect on me. So it's your fault, you know."

"Oh you... you Newbie." She giggled. But then she stopped and looked him in the eyes with sincerity.

"What... what does this mean?" She pointed a finger at him and then at herself.

Luke stepped once again closer to her, holding one of her hands. "I want you Penelope. I want to be with you, I mean when you want to be with me. I am all in. I waited so long for that to happen. You can't even imagine how much you mean to me."

Penelope closed the space between them, one of her hands at his cheek. "I want to be with you too Luke. I am in love with you, since ever. And yes, I am all in too." She wondered a little bit about herself, of her courage to say such things too him, after just one kiss. But she knew deep inside, her heart was safe with him.

* * *

Luke was as happy as he heard her answer as he ever felt in his life. He lifted her up and span her in a circle, he then put her back down on her feet and once again they kissed. They almost forgot the time once again, because when they were headed out of their room, Emily was just on her way to them.

"Good, finally you both are on your way. I am happy for you both, I really am, and I hate to be the person to be so harsh, but we have much to do." Emily said to them, not entirely capable to hold back her smile. "I really am happy, PG, Luke."

They nodded at her, both a bit embarrassed and continued their way to the dining room, hand in hand. When they entered the dining room, everyone cheered up, laughed and teased them, but only in a friendly and lovely way. Rossi was surprisingly sitting at the table too and was grinning at them like the others. When Luke and Penelope were starting to eat breakfast, the others already finished with eating, the teasing and cheering slowly ended.

* * *

"So, who won the bet?" Luke asked. Penelope giggled.

"That would be me." Spencer said. "I thought both of you would find it out the same time. In a different way maybe, but I was right." He could not hide his grin.

"Okay, enough with that. We need to make plans for today." Emily said. That was the keyword for Kristy and Savannah to leave the room with the kids.

"Since yesterday was such a dramatic day, we didn't manage do to as much as planned. We are now three more adults and Jack is old enough to help too. Nothing dangerous of course." Emily nodded at Hotch, who gave her a little smile in return.

"When you two were making out," Emily grinned at Luke and Penelope, "I already made a list of the most urgent things we need to do."

Luke nodded at her to continue, he was glad that all the planning wasn't not alone on him anymore.

"First, we need to dig graves outside the property, the two bodies are starting to smell and when they are out of the property, the kids can play outside, under supervision of course. Savannah and Kristy will both stay with the children, they volunteered. Hotch want to stay close to Jack too, he will do everything that needs to be done here in the house or on the property. Morgan is good at building and working with his hands, so his task today will be to start building a gate. Until Rossi's wound is healed properly, he will stay behind too, and help Morgan and Hotch. But only with what Savannah allows him to do. Everyone okay with all of this so far?" Emily looked at the others.

They all nodded in agreement. Emily was their unit chief, was, not anymore. She knew she was no superior anymore, and she didn't want to be. With so much people, planning was necessary, but she didn't want to order them around, she wanted to hear the opinions of everyone.

* * *

"What are we going to do?" JJ asked her.

"Some of us will help unload the truck, we will need it later. The others will dig the graves. When both tasks are finished, we will go back out there, gathering more supplies. We are good on food, books and lot of other stuff, but we can have never enough of them. Also, Morgan will need more building materials for the gate and for repairing the wall where it is broken. He will make a list of things he need while we start working. Kristy and Savannah will clear the table and the kitchen when we are finished here. The stove only will function that long as there is enough gas for it. Same goes for the radiator. We will need a lot more oil and also gas for the cars." Emily looked at each one of her friends.

"Luke mentioned yesterday that they only looted a little part of the shopping mall. That there is more food there, and that they never made it to the other stores then the three. There will be VIPs, and since we encountered hostiles out there, we will stay together. The area where we encountered them yesterday is off limits. We don't know how many of them there are, we only know they are hostile, they have heavier gun power then we do and we don't want to lead them here. So first we clear the rest of the mall, there is another truck there we can take, Matt can drive one of them too. When we cleared the mall, and we still have room, we will go looking for gas, oil and everything that Morgan needs. If we don't have enough room left, we will come back here, unload and drive out again. When we gathered enough of that, we see how late it is. If we will gather more supplies or come back here." Emily paused again, waiting for questions.

When none came, she spoke again. "We will be eight, we take seven cars and the truck. Luke will drive the truck, one is riding with him. He knows the best way to the mall. We will encounter VIPs there, if I remember right?" She looked at Spencer, Luke and Penelope.

* * *

"Yes, the loading dock area should still be clear. It has a fence around it and Spencer managed to close the gate when we left yesterday. The main entrance is smashed in, we should try to block it some way so that no more VIPs will come in that way. The warehouse at the loading dock should also be clear, the VIPs could not break down the steel doors, since they are too tight that too many of them can push against it." Luke answered her with agreement from Spencer and Penelope.

"Luke managed to keep the door to the supermarket closed with a palette and a fork-lift truck. I counted at least fifteen VIPs before they smashed the windows and got into the supermarket. Probably a few of them wandered out of there, but when we open the door, we will for sure encounter some of them in there." Spencer added.

"Okay, so first we need to block the main entrance. Any ideas?" Emily asked into the round.

"When there are not so many VIPs in the parking lot, we could take the carts to block the entrance. They can't climb, can they?" Tara asked them.

"No, I don't think so. I guess they will try and try and sooner or later some of them could get over the carts out of coincidence, but not because they are able to climb." Spencer answered.

"If some one know how to hot-wire a car, we could drive the parked cars in front of the entrance too. They would also make some noise, so the VIPs would be drawn there instead of the loading dock." JJ thought out loud.

* * *

"Well, I know how to do that. I grew up in the Bronx, not in the best neighbor hood." Luke told them.

"Good, I think we have planned as best as we can, lets get to work. Who want to dig the graves?" Emily was asking for volunteers for this ugly work.

"I think we guys should do it. We are stronger, we can dig faster. No offense, Lady´s." Will said with his smooth southern accent.

"Non taken. I must admit, I am glad that you guys will do that work." Emily grinned and JJ, Tara and Penelope agreed.

"I have only two shovels." Rossi said. "We should get more of them."

"So we only need to be three. Two to dig, one to watch out." Matt added.

"I will help unload the trucks." Spencer told them, since he was not as fit as the other guys.

"Okay, lets get started." Emily said and everyone stood up to go to their work.

* * *

" _Next stop is the convenience store. The windows are shattered, and the beer cooler is cleared out. I wonder at the people who, when faced with life or death, grab beer and television sets." ~_ Sarah Lyons Fleming, Until the End of the World

* * *

 **So, this chapter was not that long, sorry. I hope I manage to upload another chapter tomorrow. You all have a nice day. :)**


	18. Chapter 18

**Sorry that it took me so long. I need to tell you a little secret. I have a very bad habit. I smoke. (yes, I know its unhealthy, and believe me when I say, as soon as I am finished with loosing weight, to quit smoking is my next goal)**

 **Until now I only wrote on my stories when I was sitting on my balcony, listening to music, and in between smoking. Now it snowed and its freezing outside, so I am not as long outside as I usually am. So it took me longer to write (I promise, I will start writing inside too). And also I was watching some TV Shows, I was exhausted from work and also had a lot to do at home. Next week I have two free days, and since I just promised to write inside also, there will be an update soon. Oh, what a note.**

 **Enjoy, and thank you for your patience.**

* * *

" _I just find it interesting that kids apparently used to cry when Bambi's mother died. George and I both held our breaths, and then cheered when she didn't reanimate and try to eat her son."_ ~Mira Grant, Deadline

* * *

" _I will help unload the trucks." Spencer told them, since he was not as fit as the other guys._  
" _Okay, lets get started." Emily said and everyone stood up to go to their work._

An hour and a half later Luke, Matt and Will were finished with digging the graves. They saw no VIPs during that time, but sooner or later some of them would find their way to the house.

They helped the others to finish unloading the truck and after another twenty minutes they were finished.

"Grab your things. This time I want everyone to wear their bulletproof vest. I should have thought about that yesterday." Emily was still blaming herself for what had happened to Rossi.

"Em, no one thought about that yesterday. None of us thought we could met hostiles so soon. And even if Rossi would have had worn his vest, he would still have gotten hit. It's not your fault. Don't blame yourself." JJ said to her, having an arm around her shoulder, the rest agreed with JJ.

Emily was thankful for their support and understanding. Everyone went inside to gather their stuff, vests, guns and other things.

Luke went into their room after Penelope. Penelope had already her vest in her hands and wanted to put it on her.

"Let me help you with that, Chica." Luke said as he got closer to her with a goofy smile on his face.

"I'd prefer you undress me. Thanks." Penelope said with a grin and a flirting tone.

When Luke heard her words he let out a little groan. "You know, I would prefer that too. I would favor to stay with you in here instead of going out there."

"Me too. But as soon as we have this job done, the sooner we will be back. But I can't wait that long for another kiss." Penelope answered him with a little smile and pulled him closer to kiss him.

* * *

Luke would have obliged in a second, but was stopped as Morgan knocked on the open door.

"Baby girl, I have the list finished with the things I will need. Emily told me to give it to you." Derek said and handed Penelope the paper.

"You, Hot Stuff, have a very bad timing." Penelope smiled at him and looked at the list.

Derek laughed. "I know Momma, but Emily also told me to make sure you two are getting ready."

"Haha." Penelope said sarcastically, but to tell the truth, Emily did had a point. If they would have kissed, there was no telling for how long.

Luke meanwhile had put on his vest and grabbed his things. He was waiting for Penelope to gather her things at the door.

Derek was standing beside him, whispering. "I know you will look out for her. Just bring her back home safe."

Luke nodded. "Of course. I would give my life for her."

"I know. I am glad you two..." Morgan stopped as Penelope joined them and stated that she was ready.

They went outside where the others already waited. They said their goodbyes to those who would stay behind. Two radios would be left behind, the rest of the radios they would bring along. The shopping mall was out of reach to communicate from the house, but at least they could check in when they were heading back, and also they could see how far the range of the radios actually were.

* * *

"PG, you drive with Luke in the truck. The rest get into your cars." Emily said and gave Penelope one of the radios.

Soon they were on their way to the shopping mall again. Now they knew the way, so Penelope didn't need to check the maps for a way. On the drive there, Luke and Penelope were holding their hands, not talking much but smiling at each other the whole time.

Shortly before they arrived at the mall, Penelope finally found her courage to speak.

"Uhm, you... uhm, told me before what you are feeling for me, handsome." Penelope started.

Luke looked at her for a second before he concentrated again on the street. He gave her hand a little squeeze so she would know that he was listening.

"I.. I never told you what I am feeling..." Penelope swallowed to get rid of the lump in her throat.

"You don't need to, Beautiful. I see it in your eyes, I felt it in your kiss." Luke answered her with a grin.

"Yeah, but... we don't know... something could happen... to one of us. I want to, I need to tell you." Penelope wanted to tell him all she was feeling, all she felt for the last months, but she was never good in showing such feeling or put them into words.

"Pen, nothing will happen to either one of us. Or the others. Not today, not in the days to come." Luke reassured her. He knew he could not promise something like that, not in the world before and especially not in this world now. But to worry too much would not help, and he wanted her to feel safe and optimistic.

"You can't promise that, I know that. But I know you will do everything to keep all of us safe. I know you would risk your life for any of us. That's part of who you are, that's one of the reasons I fell in love with you. Just don't... just don't risk too much. Loosing any of the others would kill me, but the thought of loosing you... I could... I could not..." Penelope had tears in her eyes, just thinking about loosing one of her friends. But loosing him, the thought alone , it drove her crazy.

"So, one reason you fell in love with me, is that I care about all of you. What are the other reasons?" Luke smiled at her as he was now slowly driving to the parking lot of the shopping center, trying to change the subject, so she would not have bad thoughts the whole day.

* * *

Penelope looked at him in disbelieve. "I.. I just told you how worried I am and you ask me for the other reasons why I love you?"

"You love me?" Luke stopped the truck in front of the entrance and turned to Penelope, to see how her cheeks were starting to turn pink. His heart was beating faster, it felt like it would explode any second, he felt such joy. His smile as big as never before.

Penelope wanted to say something but her head was spinning around. _Did I just really say that I love him? In a truck? Just after two kisses? Oh my good Lord._ She couldn't believe herself.

Luke closed the space between them. "I love you too, Pen." He whispered and kissed her until a knock on the window startled them and made them realize where they were.

"Sorry, but we don't have time for that. We have company." Emily said as Penelope opened the door to get out and was pointing to five VIPs stumbling closer to where the cars stopped. The others already had their hand weapons out. Axes, pokers, breaking bars, and Matt was even holding an ice pick.

"Yeah, sorry Prentiss. But she just told me, she loved me." Luke said with a big grin, reaching for his own weapon.

The others all grinned at his comment and Penelope's cheeks turned from a lightly pink into a deep red.

"Well, congratulations. But now, we have more urgent things to do." Emily said with a smile and her voice was not as stern as before.

JJ, Will, Spencer, Matt and Emily were slowly approaching the VIPs.

"Pen, Tara, cover our sides, look if more of them are heading our way. Luke, start to hot-wire the cars, drive them in front of the entrance door, so none of them can come through." Emily ordered and all of them now were focused on their task.

A few minutes later, the five infected were put down for good. Luke already had driven one car in front of the entrance door and was now showing Spencer how to hot-wire a car at another vehicle.

* * *

Ten minutes later and seven killed VIPs, the entrance door and the smashed windows were fully blocked. They could see at least a dozen infected inside the mall. Tara and Penelope were now pushing long rows of carts in front of the cars for a second barrier. As soon as the second barrier with the carts were finished, they got back into their own cars and drove to the backside, to the loading dock.

The fence was still standing and the gate also was still closed. They opened it and drove through, closing it as soon as the last car was inside. In the distance they could see movement, and not a small amount of it.

"Okay, the warehouse hall should be infected free. The keys for the second truck should be on the corps in front of the door to the supermarket. There we killed the second truck driver. We should first load the cars before the trucks. So if we have space after clearing the mall, we can load the building materials for Morgan into them. The wood and boards are much bigger then the stuff in here." Luke said and described them how the layout inside was, at least what they had discovered so far.

"Good point. I think we should stick together to clear the entire mall. No VIPs can get in anymore, so if we clear it together, we can split up after to cover more ground and not be in any danger." Emily speaking her thoughts out loud.

They all agreed and went into the warehouse hall. It was exactly as Luke, Penelope and Spencer left it the day before.

"I drive the fork-lift truck away, you should secure the door as soon as it is not blocked anymore. Yesterday there were a bunch of them behind. Matt, look for they keys for the second truck." Luke said as he went to get into the fork-lift truck. As the others were ready, for his own relieve, he saw Penelope not in the front row of defense, he started the vehicle and drove it with the palette on it away from the door. As soon as he cleared the way and stopped the fork-lift truck he looked back to the others and went at a fast pace back to them.

* * *

Just as he arrived at Penelope's side, the door was pushed open and two VIPs stumbled out. Behind the two they could see another three. Since all of them had already had some practice killing the infected, the doorway was cleared in a moments notice.

Matt, Will and Emily were the first one to get through the door and went to different sides to cover them as the others went also into the supermarket. Emily and Matt began to clear the left side, JJ and Will the left side. Spencer and Tara got into the right middle aisle, so the left middle aisle was covered and cleared by Luke and Penelope. They only had to kill another two infected and then the supermarket was cleared.

"There is a lot of good stuff still left. But first we need to clear the rest of this place." Emily said to the others as she climbed through the smashed windows. The rolling grid was pressed in but it had a wide space where the VIPs came through yesterday and where they could now get through to get into the shopping hall. Since the entire shopping center had a glass ceiling it was bright enough to see around.

When everyone was outside the supermarket they could see at least ten VIPs coming closer from each side.

"Four each side, lets kill them fast. We don't know how many there are in here." Emily commanded.

Spencer and Tara joined Penelope and Luke on the right side. JJ, Will and Matt went on Emily's side.

Soon they got rid of the infected, they counted fifteen of them and only once it got a bit dangerous when two VIPs were close to each other and Will's hand weapon got stuck. But Matt was there in time and nothing happened.

When they could not see any more infected coming their way, they gathered again in front of the supermarket.

* * *

"Most of the stores are closed and secured from this side. For us to get into them, we will need to go break through the back-doors like they did yesterday. But we should clear the rest of the building we can reach from here first." JJ said and looked around to see if any infected were coming, but she saw none.

"Yeah. Four to the left, four to the right. This center is not big, so we should clear it in no time. Each team clear will their side and then we meet here again. Check the radios, so if a team has some trouble, the other team can come to their aid. Lets get it done." Emily said and checked her own radio. The ones who also had one checked them too.

Then they nodded at each other and went in groups of four in their appointed directions. Luke, Penelope, Spencer and Tara began walking to the right gang from the mall. They were cautious and only discovered one VIP, which had a broken leg and was robbing on the floor. Soon they hit their end of the corridor. They only needed to check the restrooms and then they would be finished sweeping this side. Luke and Spencer automatically went to the man's-restroom, opened the door and walked inside to check it.

Tara and Penelope were standing in front of the ladies-restroom to clear it.

"Well, even when the world has ended, men still not want to go into the ladies-rooms." Tara said with a little smile to Penelope as she opened the door.

Both were ready to kill anything that would come out. But nothing happened, so they went inside. Tara was checking the toilet cabins and Penelope went to open the door to the diaper-changing room. She was cautious, but still, as she opened the door, she was surprised.

A very big and heavy women, or former women, who clearly tried to hide in the diaper-changing room, got out in a fast speed. Penelope brought up her poker to stab into the brain of the infected woman, when the infected lunged for her. Since the women was way bigger and heavier then Penelope, Penelope lost her balance and the grip on her weapon. As she was falling down she screamed out loud. All Penelope could think of in this moment was that she didn't wanted to die, not now, not ever. Not when she and Luke were just at the beginning. And then the world turned black.

* * *

As soon as Tara heard Penelope screaming, she shouted out to Luke and Spencer, hoping they would hear her. She ran as fast as possible back to where she knew Penelope where. When she got around the corner, she saw the infected woman, who was half laying on Penelope, who was just lying still on the floor.

Tara prayed that she would made it in time when she ran the few feet towards the woman to smash her head with her weapon. A few seconds later she smashed the head with such a force, the skull broke open and black brain tissue was spreading out.

Tara tried to look if Penelope was bitten, but the woman was laying on Penelope, and she was too heavy for Tara to lift her or roll to the side. And all the black fluids coming out of the skull didn't help to see anything.

"Alvez, Reid!" Tara shouted again, but they didn't respond. Tara didn't wanted to leave Penelope alone, but she needed help to free Penelope of the weight from the woman. So Tara stood up and wanted to ran outside when she remembered that she had one of the radios with her.

"Tara here. Penelope got attacked, I need help. I killed the infected... But I don't know how bad it is. Over." After she finished speaking, she knelt down beside Penelope, checking on her, trying to feel her pulse.

"We are on our way. Over." Emily said through the radio. She, Will and JJ already started running to the others. They had cleared their side of the building and were already on their way back to the supermarket when they heard Tara. All of them worried of their one of a kind friend.

When Luke had heard Tara on the radio, he was frozen for a second. But he was already on his way out of the man's-room when he heard Emily's response. Luke, Spencer was right behind him, ran into the ladies-room where they discovered the big woman laying on Penelope, with a kneeling Tara beside them, who had tears in her eyes.

* * *

" _You cast a desperate look at Eric, who has not yet noticed that you've been bitten. Will I turn now? Am I becoming one of them? When Ghandi said, 'Be the change you want to see in the world,' I don't think this is how he meant it." ~_ A.J. Lauer, Armageddon: Pick Your Plot

* * *

 **Oh no. What a cliffhanger. And then that quote. :o Sorry, but hey, I need to hold up the tension. ;)  
And also, you all know I could never do anything to Penelope – I mean, they didn't had enough time together right? Right? Ohoh.**


End file.
